After Infinity: Stark
by LokiLove24028
Summary: Half of the universe was wiped out with the snap of Thanos's fingers. Tony is stranded on an alien planet with no knowledge of whether his friends or fiance are alive and waiting for him, or nothing more than a pile of dust. An Avengers family reunion is overdue, but once they're back in business, can they reverse what has already been done? Told mostly from Tony's point of view.
1. Dust In The Wind

Numb. Void of all emotion, all thought. Maybe _he_ was the one who disappeared. Right now, it didn't sound so bad. It should've been him, but here he sits on some bumble-fuck, middle-of-nowhere planet (yes, _planet_ ) living out his worst nightmare. That is, if he was living at all.

He guessed maybe the stabbing pain in his side was a good indicator. Now that was a pain he wasn't completely numb to.

Robo-smurf (Tony didn't take down names) was tampering with something behind him. Whatever she was trying, it didn't seem to be working. Occasionally she'd scream out in frustration or hurl a rock across the barren landscape. Tony didn't flinch.

"You could help." Baldy snapped, mumbling something else inaudible to herself. Stark didn't pay her mind since it was far off somewhere else…

 _Dust?_ What the hell was that… What the _HELL_ was that? By "wiping out half of the universe", Tony imagined nothing short of a dramatic genocide with explosions and guns blazing, but just fading away in a wisp of ash? Somehow the peacefulness of it all was even worse. God, the kid's face... Tony felt sick.

He didn't even realize there was a burst of light somewhere behind him. The ground underneath him jolted just a bit, but he couldn't bring his muscles to move in response. It could've been giant legion of Thanos's army for all he cared. At this point, did it really matter?

"Need a ride?" Tony heard a familiar deep, rumbling intonation. It was probably one of the few exceptions that would motivate him to bring his attention back to something other than his own jumbled thoughts of defeat. Stark looked up to see a friend that he hadn't seen in nearly two years now. Thor smiled sadly down at him and reached out a hand.

Tony hesitated, taking a moment to notice that this wasn't the same Thor he had fought with back in Sokovia. His hair was chopped short (honestly, it was about time), his hammer was now an axe, and Tony couldn't quite place his finger on what it was, but there was something different about his face too. Later he'd discover the whole "missing-an-eye" situation.

"Stark." Thor said, a tinge of worry in his voice as his smile fell. Tony took a deep breath and grasped Thor's hand, allowing the God to help him to his feet. Start groaned and clutched at his side with his other hand, a leg buckling underneath him. Thor instantly hand an arm underneath his, helping him stand.

"You are injured."

"Just a small impalement, not a big deal."

"We'll get you back."

"Back to what, exactly?" Tony spat out a little more bitterly than he intended. Thor pulled away from Tony just enough to look at him.

"Friends who are counting on us. A universe who is counting on us."

" _Half_ a universe."

"A universe all the same."

Tony scoffed and rolled his eyes.

"I understand how this looks. It's not over." Thor persisted.

"It's not over? I just watched the majority of our best defense disappear into fucking pixie dust!"

"Lord? The wizard? The kid?

"Yes." Tony brutally cut him off. How did he even know about Peter? He'd been M.I.A. doing who knows what the hell what.

 _Okay, Tony. Misguided anger, here._ He tried to talk himself down.

"All of 'em." Stark finished in a much quieter tone.

"You'll feel better once we get back to Midgard. There are still people counting on you; worried about you."

Tony felt his chest tighten. He found his mind begging for Thor to be referring who he so desperately couldn't stop thinking about. However at the same time, Tony was doing everything in his power _not_ to think about her. He knew the odds of her surviving whatever twisted party-trick Thanos just pulled, and continuing to think of those odds would just drive him mad. The only way to find out if she was alive was to go back and find out of course, but Stark was terrified that he wouldn't find what he was looking for.

"Our friends…"

Tony felt his heart drop into his stomach. So still no word on Pepper.

"What, all two of them left?"

"Banner, Natasha, Rhodes, Cap…" As Thor began listing, Tony felt his mind reel itself in a bit. Maybe there was even the tiniest spark of cruel hope. There was also a sudden spike of pain sent down Stark's spine. Tony doubled over and hissed.

"Alright, alright. We'll have a big, happy family reunion. I got it."

Thor seemed satisfied enough with this, and started guiding Tony towards an emptier, flatter part of the landscape.

"How'd you find me?"

"Ah well, a talking rabbit with exquisite space-tracking skills."

"Christ, never mind. I'll stop asking questions."

Thor smirked and gripped the handle of his axe. Tony glanced down at it.

"New gadget?"

"Very. 'Bout an hour."

"Nice. A little theatrical, maybe? Hair's cute though." Tony teased. Thor chuckled and shook his head.

"I've missed you, metal man."

"Uh, hello?"

Thor and Tony both turned to the sound of a new voice. Tony sucked in a sharp breath, remembering that twisting his body wasn't the best of ideas at the moment.

"Who's that?" Thor asked. Tony had forgotten about the freaky, alien girl.

"Not sure."

"One of ours?"

"Enough."

Thor shrugged and thrusted his axe up in the sky, showering all three of them in a blinding light. Tony felt his insides churn and his head void of all thoughts and vision other than the blazing brilliance around them. His body suddenly felt weightless, almost as if he didn't have one anymore. He did have one last thought before Thor hurdled him into space, though. It was of grass. Grass and trees and buildings and people and Pepper. Most of all, it was Pepper.

 _Earth_. That's all he wanted now. Maybe it was broken. Maybe it was devoid of half the population. Maybe… Well, maybe the one person he loved more than anything else in this God-forsaken universe was nothing more than a pile of dust. But maybe not. And that's all Tony needed.


	2. Open Arms

**A/N: Just so you know, this story will probably jump around a bit. For example from the Avengers reuniting, to Pepper's POV, to the end when everything becomes resolved and people are reunited. Let me know what you guys think about the story or even the movie!**

Steve looked back and forth at the defeated faces around him. His co-workers. His friends. The only family he had left- reduced to half in less than seconds. He felt that it was his responsibility to be the one to preserve whatever precious morale the team had left, but even Steve was having trouble discovering any gleam of hope. Usually, he could look at a loss and chalk it up to a necessary battle as part of a bigger war. You take it with your head held high and use everything you've got for the next fight to make damn well sure it doesn't happen again. Rogers didn't feel like they had just lost a battle though- they had lost the war.

"What-" Natasha muttered in barely a whisper beside him. She cleared her throat and tried again. "What are we supposed to do now?"

Steve turned his eyes to the ground as all other pairs turned straight on him. For a moment, he slightly resented this. Why was it always him that everyone looked to? What if he didn't have the answers this time? Because honestly, he didn't. He didn't know what the hell they were supposed to do. He didn't even understand what just happened. The image of Bucky falling to nothing but ash flickered across his mind. There was no way he was gone just like that. No blood, no gore, no goodbyes… just ceasing to exist, as if he never did.

"We can at least wait for Thor to return with Tony." Rhodey sounded from where he sat on a tree log on the edge of the forest, still in full armor. Steve recognized the tone to Rhodey's voice. It was of a man who wasn't about to accept that his best friend may be dead, or dust, or whatever. Rogers admired the hope in Rhodes. Right now, he was having trouble finding it. But man, would it be good to see Tony alive and well (or well as anyone could be in the current circumstances).

"We don't even know if there is a "Tony" to retrieve." The man introduced as M'Baku bellowed.

"Hey." The talking raccoon's voice cut in. "My friends are up there too, don't forget."

"And the spider kid. And a wizard." Bruce's voice sounded. He was currently struggling with getting himself out of the damaged hulk buster armor, tripping over his own feet and nearly taking down a tree with him. Rhodey sighed and got up to help him.

"Who knows, they could be a pile of dirt by now as well."

"M'Baku." Okoye reprimanded, shooting him a stern look. "Your negativity is not welcome here."

"Don't confuse negativity for reality." He retorted coldly, turning and slowly walking off into the field of dead creatures and Wakandan soldiers.

"He's right, though. Say Tony and whoever else is alive, which I pray to God they are, we can't expect him to come down with a magical answer to this mess." Bruce concluded, finally free of the ginormous suit.

"You're awfully proactive." Natasha said, a forced smile on her face. Even the Queen of acting herself couldn't quite pull it off as genuine.

"I just fought a giant dog and the ruler of Hel on Thor's alien planet. I'm on a roll in terms of weird situations lately." Bruce said, making Steve smirk just a bit. Some of his best friends just disintegrated, another was stranded on a planet if he was even still alive, and they had just failed the universe, but something about hearing Bruce's familiar sarcasm was comforting.

Rogers stood from where he was perched on a gathering of boulders and took a few steps forward. Everyone instantly grew silent and watched him with expectant, desperate eyes. Steve looked from person to person. His old friends- Natasha, Bruce, Rhodey… His new friends- Okoye, Rocket, maybe M'Baku. These were the faces of survivors, of people who fought too hard to just throw everything away now. As long as there was just one single soul left on this Earth that deserved saving, Steve had all he needed to keep pushing.

"Listen. Maybe whatever happened in reversible. I mean, we just fought a giant army of monsters, there's a guy with a God-complex and a magical glove, our friends are out there lost in space somewhere-"

"Yeah, where's this going, Cap?" Rhodey cut in. Rogers bowed his head and raised up his hand in apology.

"What I'm trying to get across is that anything goes at this point. But I think we should also be prepared in case this… this isn't reversible. The world just changed drastically and we can try to fight it, but we should also be able to adapt. We've got a universe of people who are out there just as confused and terrified as we are. We have friends out there that may need us. Clint, Scott, Shuri, Tony, Parker…"

 _Sharon._ Steve added in his head. God, he hoped she was okay.

"Right now, I think the best thing we can do is get a roundup of who we have and focus on that. We won't forget about all we've lost, but we'll honor their memory by taking care of what's left of us, as they would've wanted. I-"

Steve was about to continue when a _crack_ sound split through the air, louder than any lightning he's ever heard. The eyes that were all turned to him a moment ago, all snapped to a singular place behind him. The ground rumbled and the forest in front of him was bathed in a bright light. Rogers took a deep breath and turned slowly to see the showering illuminance of the "bi-frost" as Thor called it. This was it- either Tony and the others were with him or he was returning alone.

At that moment, Steve forgot about everything him and Tony had gone through in the past two years. He just desperately wanted to see his friend alive. Yes, Stark was a major thorn in his side, but a familiar thorn. A thorn that often-kept Steve going when he was feeling like there wasn't much left to keep fighting for. All of that fighting and rivalry seemed ridiculous now. Under the circumstances, he kicked himself for being so petty. Maybe this wouldn't have happened if they had just stuck together. Steve hated that the possible last time he would have had with Tony was when they were beating each other to a pulp.

For that and a billion other reasons, Cap felt the knot in his chest fall away when the light cleared. Steve felt a smile creep on his face and he was met with a cocky smirk in response from none other than Tony Stark himself.

~ X ~

Tony was looking forward to something comfortable or recognizable like streets, New York buildings, people- he was not expecting some weird mix of nature and more futuristic-spacey shit.

"You didn't say we were making other planetary pit stops," Tony grunted, holding his side a little bit tighter. "Jesus, I about to start leaking my spleen here."

"This is Midgard." Thor said. Tony looked across the field before them and narrowed his eyes at the lumps that littered the ground. It only took seconds for him to realize that they weren't just lumps- these were people. Well, people and disgusting, slimy creatures looking like they were straight from Alien. A pang of sinking pain hit Tony with the thought of the reference. What he wouldn't do for another of the kid's movie references.

Stark was also aware of the group of people gathered along the edge of a large, exotic looking forest. It wasn't just a group of people though. It was the exact group of people who he wanted to see most right now (or what was left of them at least). At the head of the pack with his stupid golden hair and idiot, heroic grin was the guy who Tony didn't even realize he wanted to see so bad until now. Whatever had gone down between them was nothing more than a Kardashian squabble at this point.

Tony couldn't help but smile a bit despite everything. Man, it felt good to see everyone. Thor helped him begin staggering across the field. They had to weave around the bodies and the debris. Plenty of shit went down on Titan, but it didn't look like they got much of a break down here on Earth either.

The first movement Tony saw from the pack was Rhodey, flipping down his mask and activating his thrusters to fly over. He touched down in front of them and let his helmet disconnect, pulling it off.

"Look at what the cat dragged in."

"I'm sorry, I don't understand. Did you call me a-" Thor started, obviously offended.

"You okay?" Rhodey interrupted, his smile dropping after seeing Tony gripping his side.

"Just playing Thanos's favorite shish-ka-bob."

Rhodey ran to Tony's other sides and put an arm underneath his own. Together he and Thor helped Stark continue walking, but they didn't need to go far. The rest of the group hurried to meet them.

"Tony," Natasha said, relief clear in her voice. It was refreshing to hear something else there other than sassy, know-all, sarcasm. She rushed forward and wrapped him in a hug.

"My favorite quadruple agent. Something is… different." Tony teased, taking notice of the hair color. "Just needed a change? Time to spice things up? Or maybe an outlaw on the run or something of the sort?"

"Don't push it." She said, releasing him and rolling her eyes.

"Bruce- still no green machine?"

"I've been doing okay for myself." Banner said proudly, beckoning his head back towards a very damaged hulk buster suit. Tony raised his eyebrows and nodded. He was glad to see the armor. Maybe Pepper was right- he did find a little too much comfort in the legion of suits he built. Pepper… the one person that he wanted her most right now. Stark tried to ignore the weight on his chest. One step at a time.

Tony turned to Cap who walked up slowly behind everyone else. He had tons of remarks and references to throw at Rogers in the past and he knew tons more were stocked up somewhere in the back of his mind, but in the moment, Tony was speechless. He didn't know whether it was the guilt or just relief from seeing the one person he trusted enough to fix this shit storm.

"Tony." Steve said softly, nodding his head. Stark cocked his head to one side and narrowed his eyes.

"Only one of us can be the cool-beard guy, Rogers." Tony said, removing his arm from around Thor's shoulders to stretch it out towards Cap.

"Hey…" Thor objected, reaching up to touch his own beard.

Rogers smiled sadly and gripped Tony's hand. Everyone was watching them now, no one saying a word. Wait… Was that a raccoon in the background over there? Tony made a mental note to address that later.

"Good to see you." Rogers said, pulling Tony into a hug instead. Tony clapped a hand on his friend's back and gritted his teeth against the pain in his side.

"The shippers are going crazy right now."

"Shippers?"

"It's a new-fangled thing, old man. You don't want to know."

Tony took a step back and looked at the new faces. "New recruits?"

The women dressed in ancient-futuristic, African style armor bowed her head towards him and the huge guy dressed similarly behind her did the same. Tony remembered all of the news stories about T'Challa and the reveal of Wakanda. He had been meaning to visit ever since, but never got the chance. He wasn't quite expecting to be brought here under such circumstances. The only one that didn't acknowledge him was the walking raccoon holding a gun and wearing space armor. That's normal.

"What the deal with the- what is that?" Tony dropped his voice to nearly a whisper and leaned in so Steve could hear him. "Are we _that_ short staffed that we're accepting woodland animals?"

"Tony." Steve warned, shaking his head disapprovingly. "He claims you and his friends may have had a run-in up there?" Tony raised an eyebrow and looked over at the sad looking raccoon.

"Hey, buddy. You knew those guys? Big blue fella, buggy gal, star-jesus-"

"Lord." The raccoon spoke with a very human-sounding voice that Tony wasn't expecting. He didn't really know what he was expected. "Star _lord_."

Everyone was quiet. Tony took a deep breath and walked forward, grimacing but toughing through the pain without Rhodey or Thor's help. He wanted to do this on his own. The raccoon looked at him suspiciously as Stark approached. He dropped down to one knee so they could be similar in height.

"What do you mean by 'knew'?" The raccoon asked quietly. Tony bowed his head and bit his lip. He felt like he didn't really need to explain.

"Tony Stark." Tony introduced himself, reaching his hand out. "You've got some weird friends."

The raccoon's ears drooped and he took a staggering breath.

 _This is fucked up._ Tony thought to himself as he shook the raccoon's hand. He missed the days where his enemies were just next door on the other side of the world and the biggest weapons or methods of destruction he had to worry about were the ones from his own company. Was this even the same life that he was living?

"And brave. I'm sorry." Tony concluded. The only sound was the wind through the forest and birds in the distance.

"Rocket." The raccoon said, turning and walking away with hunched shoulders. "I'm Rocket."

Tony stood and sighed. Everyone was losing loved ones. No one was spared.

"Strange? The kid?" Banner's voice came from behind him, accentuating his thoughts. Tony just shook his head. What was left of the Avengers broke into murmurs behind him.

"Vision? Maximoff? Barton? Sam? T'Challa?"

"And Bucky." Steve finished, confirming the body count from their own battle. "No word from Barton though. He and Lang are a big question mark right now."

Tony thought about this while scanning the area around him. It was gorgeous in a way that he had never seen before. It was an off-putting mix of ancient looking tents and accents right alongside tech that he's never even dreamed about before. In any other condition, Tony would go crazy exploring this place and studying the technology. Something different caught his attention though. Another body in a small clearing in the forest. It was drained of all color and life.

 _Shit…_

Tony staggered forward, ignoring all of his aches and pains. His mind was set on getting there now. He didn't know why- he knew that he didn't truly want to see what laid beyond the trees. The horror and curiosity took over his body though, and it seemed like he didn't have a choice.

"Stark." Steve called after him. Tony kept moving, stumbling once or twice but forcing himself to keep trekking until he reached his side- Vision's side. He didn't know what he expected him to look like if he ever died, but this was much more morbid than he would've dreamt. There wasn't a trace of color left on him- like someone completely drained him. The worst part was his skull crushed in where the stone used to be. So that was it then, the icing on the cake. Thanos killed their friend, took the last stone and killed half the universe. Vision was just the symbol of their failure. The unnatural, macabre symbol.

Tony ran his hand over his face and felt his chest and throat clamp up. He looked up at the canopy of trees above him to try and prevent any water-works; that was the last thing he needed right now. Tony stood like that for a while, just watching the wind blow through the leaves and branches. Strange how the Earth itself goes on unaffected. The wind still blows, the sky is still blue, the grass still grows… How can everything be _so_ different but still stay the same?

Wait… now the sky was darkening. The corners of Tony's vision blurred. The pain in his side flared up and a bright white flashed through his head.

"Tony!" Bruce's voice called from the distance. Everything went dark.


	3. Who Says You Can't Go Home

**A/N: Finally, we get some Pepper in this chapter. It's a lot longer than I would've initially liked, but let me know what you guys think.**

* * *

 _Bzzzzzzzzzzz._ Tony heard a low, mechanical hum close enough to his ear to drone out most of his thoughts and memories. All he heard was that hypnotic buzzing like those tools used at the dentist's office. Ugh, he _hated_ the dentist. He remembered how Pepper had to drag him to all of his appointments back when she was his PA. Internally, he smiled at the memory. He loved bringing up small instances from their past like this to her. She'd roll her eyes and complain about what a pain in the ass he was, or _is_. He knew by the smile on her face that she liked remembering too though.

 _I should tell Pep._ Tony thought, envisioning himself rolling over in bed, slinking an arm around her waist and kissing her shoulder until she woke. Stark willed his eyes to open, fighting against the heavy weight of his lids. Actually, everything felt heavy and he wasn't quite sure why.

Light flooded his vision enough to make his head feel like it was splitting open. He winced and cringed away, turning his head from the light.

"What the-"

"Mr. Stark, I recommend that you stay still." An unfamiliar voice warned. She had a thick accent that he couldn't quite place, especially since he was distracted by a sudden stabbing pain in his upper, left abdomen. Tony yelped and his eyes snapped fully open. He was in a giant hall with exotic architecture, most of it damaged or completely destroyed. He saw a good amount of figures standing around him, but he didn't quite clear his vision enough to see recognizable features. Worst of all, a terrifyingly futuristic, robotic arm was casting holographic images over his bare chest and abdomen. The first thought he had was that he still was in space somewhere, slapped on some surgical experimentation table, surrounded by aliens and...

"I don't care what kind of fucked up alien currency you have..." Tony spat out, scrambling back on the table, trying to push himself up. Hands grabbed his shoulders from both sides and attempted to hold him down. Tony struggled and continued his slew of panicked accusations.

"If you think you can just harvest my organs-"

"Stark!"

Tony stopped, partly because he knew that voice and partly because his efforts were spreading excruciating pain throughout his body. Breathing hard, Stark took time to look up at the people hold him down. Allowing his eyes to focus, he was met with Cap and Thor's blue ones (well, Thor's blue _and_ brown ones), examining him like he was crazy. Tony took in a stuttering, deep breath to attempt calming himself down.

"Captain." Tony acknowledged, clapping a hand on Steve's shoulder before easing himself back down to lie on the table. "Point break."

He then turned his eyes to who he assumed was the owner of first voice he heard. She was a tall, pretty, and relatively young African woman with wide curious eyes and a slightly cocky smirk. Tony focused on steadying his breathing pattern to ease his pain while he frowned at her.

"Don't believe I've met you, though."

"Shuri. And I'm afraid, Mr. Stark, that your organs won't hold much worth here. This machine is simply using magnetic fields to scan your organ structures and tissues to produce an image, much like-"

"An MRI." Tony finished. Upon more examination, he recognized the machine. After Wakanda chose to reveal themselves to the public, Stark went nuts learning everything he could about the tech they had. Often, he spent all-nighters in his workshop studying and attempting to recreate remarkable advancements beyond what he thought possible. "Hey listen, I've got hoobuckles of questions for you sometime, but right now I think I'd be more comfortable getting patched up in a more familiar- oh dear God that feels weird. Ah that's not right, that's not natural." Tony grimaced, watching a different machine project lasers at his semi-sealed wound. It felt like there were tiny probes wandering around inside of him.

"Assessing the severity of your injuries, I don't think it's a smart idea to move you anywhere right now."

"I'm peachy." Stark argued, coughing a bit and tasting blood. "Swear it." He knew he was unconvincing. He just so badly wanted to go back to New York, back to base, back to home, back to Pepper. God, please let there be a Pepper to go back to.

"Why do you _really_ want to get back so eagerly, Stark?" Natasha questioned, the tone of her voice revealing that she knew exactly why. Out of everyone there, she probably knew best how much Pepper meant to him. Stark shot a look at her.

"Actually," Bruce's voice and footsteps entered the room along with the two other Wakandans, the raccoon, and Rhodey. Tony relaxed a bit upon seeing Rhodey as he often did in situations like this- strange and completely out of his control. His friend always offered comfort through familiarity. Rhodey raised his eyebrows at Tony as if to ask how he was doing. Stark just let his eyes roll back as he shook his head, indicating that he's been better but hanging in there. "We don't have much of a choice." Bruce finished.

"What do you mean?" Steve asked.

"Thanos children are scaling the perimeter. Probably here to clean up any resisting powers that may be left."

"AKA, us." Rocket chimed in, bitterly.

"Ughhh, I'd much rather be at the dentist right now." Tony muttered, earning confused looks from his friends.

"We cannot stay here. Wakanda is left defenseless and we are in severe need of backup." The woman warrior said.

"We should return to the base." Thor suggested.

"I'm with Jane Seymour." Tony grunted, pulling himself off the table and nearly collapsing if it wasn't for Steve offering his arm for support. Thor shot a perplexed look at Rhodey who offered an apologetic look on Stark's behalf and gestured towards his own eyes to inform Thor what the reference was about.

"Thor, can't your magical light beams just zap us there?" Rocket asked.

"The Bifrost is more for interdimensional travel."

"It's alright, we've got a jet. And I suggest we all get our asses on it ASAP." Bruce said, already leading the pack down a grand hall with rubble littered everywhere. Rhodey rushed to Tony's other side, and together he and Cap helped Stark follow everyone.

"Have you tried calling anyone?" Stark asked as they walked.

"If 'anyone' is a nickname for Pepper, then yes, I've tried. No answer." Rhodey reluctantly informed. Tony was quiet. He had no quips for that. "It's chaos, though. We don't know what the situation is until we get there." He tried to add. Tony would usually appreciate his friend's pathetic attempt at optimism, but all he could focus on was the pain in his chest- a completely different pain from the one in his side. He already lost the kid, he couldn't bear to lose Pepper. He couldn't _live_ without Pepper.

The ride home was bathed in a painful silence. Everyone sat across from each other, looking sadly defeated and broken. These moments in between action were the worst in times like this- it gave everyone time to sit on what had just happened, what they just lost, _who_ they just lost. Needless to say, it brought morale way down.

It wasn't until they could see the base when Stark could feel a little more hope among them. It quickly faded when they walked through the doors though. The atmosphere was drastically different than the usual hustle and bustle of the facility. It was quiet except for the distant sound of phones ringing, with no one there to answer. The footsteps of the remaining heroes echoed in the giant, glass lobby. Stark guessed that when the dusting began, the staff who had been spared erupted into chaos and left in a hurry. Probably scurrying home to families that weren't there.

The worst part was the ghosts. Tony could almost see the past versions of themselves from two years ago when they used to be a "family" of sorts; a messed up, dysfunctional, crime-fighting family. It had worked so well for a while... everyone either living in the facility or coming by so often that they may as well have been. They all had a place, both literally with their own rooms but figuratively too. Never again would he have to explain boundaries to Vision or tease Wanda for her sleep talking or watch Jets games with Sam. Even though Peter turned down his initial offer to join the team there, Tony knew he'd probably end up there eventually. Stark was even looking forward to the day. He had so much he wanted to show the kid; specifically the shit-ton of tech in the basement. Maybe Tony would even build him his own workshop. But now...

"Stark!" Roger's voice echoed through the empty space. Tony snapped back to reality where it seemed Steve had been trying to talk to him for a while.

"Yes, dear?" Tony joked, but there was no life in his voice as there usually was when making quips.

"Should we reach out to the remaining staff? See about damage control?"

"I'm sure the government's going to be on our ass. Not just U.S., but all over the planet." Rhodey said tiredly.

"What's left of them." Rocket muttered. Tony sighed. Honestly, he didn't care about damage control. He didn't care about the government. He was finding a hard time caring about anything at this point. He did know that _he_ surely didn't want to deal with any of that though.

"Yeah, I guess." Stark answered flatly. He let his arms fall away from Steve and Rhodey's shoulders and winced as he limped down the hallway towards what would be his and Pepper's room if they stayed at the facility. At this point, he doubted she was here. Still, he felt hope build inside of him as Stark pushed the door open. He tried not to let the disappointment hit him too hard- the room was vacant. Tony hobbled over to sit on the edge of the bed. He clamped a hand over his wound, taking a few shuttering breaths. He felt the need to cough but knew it would just end in a mouthful of blood.

"Hey." Bruce's voice emanated softly from the threshold of the room. "Shuri and I are going to prep the medical room and then we'll put you under to patch you up. Think you can hold on until then?"

Tony shrugged and avoided his friend's eyes. He hated looking and feeling this defeated, but there wasn't an ounce of motivation left in his body to appear otherwise.

"Friday." Tony called out as he eased himself to lie in bed, soothing a bit of the pain.

"Yes boss, I'm here."

Tony hesitated, terrified yet yearning for what was to come next.

"Call Ms. Potts."

"Uh... Tony..." Bruce said, although he wasn't looking at Stark, he was looking down the hallway at something out of Tony's view. Stark ignored him anyway. Whatever it was, it could wait for all he cared.

"Sir, there was no answer."

"Well can you locate her?" he asked, frustration tinging his voice. He barely even realized that his friends and co-workers were all gathering outside his doorway, pressing their backs against the wall as if to make way for someone. Their heads were all turned to watch whoever was approaching.

"I can't seem to locate her either, Sir." Friday said, regret in her artificially, configured voice.

"Tony." A voice side from his doorway. He was caught off guard, turning to see Happy standing there with the Avengers watching him. Stark couldn't help as one corner of his mouth tilted up in a half smile.

"Hap. Good to see you."

Tony pushed himself up off the bed, his left leg buckling during a moment of pain. Happy rushed forward and grabbed Tony's arm to stabilize him.

"You okay?"

"Been better."

Happy stepped back once Stark regained his balance. He looked up at his friend's face, but soon wished he hadn't. Stark didn't like the expression Happy was wearing.

Happy sighed and reached into his suit pocket, fumbling around for something. It felt like hours went by when Tony knew it was barely a couple of seconds. Each passing moment, his heart sunk deeper and deeper into his stomach. Finally, Happy pulled something out and held it out towards his boss. Tony opened his hand and felt a ring drop into his palm.

 _No..._ Was all he thought. _No, no, no, no..._

Tony examined Pepper's engagement ring. His chest had never felt so heavy. His throat closed up. It was as if he forgot how to breathe.

"I tried to get to her after everything went down. I found it in the mansion. Boss, I-" Happy solemnly explained. He trailed off and never finished. Stark wasn't really listening anyway. The only thing he could hear was his own heartbeat in his head. That was it. It was over. He had nothing left. Half of the universe was disintegrated, his fiancee included. It was his fault. He could've stopped it, but they failed. They lost. And it cost him everything.

* * *

 **Earlier that Day**

Pepper looked into her own eyes in the bathroom mirror at the Stark Industries Tower in downtown New York. Her blue orbs stood out against the red of her eyes. It had been a rough few hours since Tony went missing, on a spaceship nonetheless. Her fiancee was in somewhere in space on an evil alien's ship. No one else had to deal with this shit. And still, Pep had to put on a strong face and take care of the chaos that was Stark Industries whenever incidents like this happened. Sure, Tony didn't often come in or deal with much having to do with the Industries anymore, but solely by association, if something happened with him that made the news, the whole building felt the need to bug out and glue themselves to their TVs, watching for more information about the owner of their company. Pepper was sure that 95% of these people didn't even care if the information was in Tony's favor or not, as long as they were in the loop.

 _Damn you._ She thought. _You said no more surprises. You promised no more surprises._ She wasn't mad though, not really. She just wanted him to come home safe.

Pepper wiped away a fresh tear from her face and took a deep breath, readying herself to face the public again; to pretend everything was okay when really nothing was. That was when she heard the screams. Pepper froze and listened as more and more filled the air. She hurriedly slung her purse over her shoulder and flung the bathroom door open, letting the rest of the sound flood in. Screams and yells, running footsteps, papers flying, doors opening and slamming... The sight wasn't pretty either. People scrambled down the hallways, shoving past each other in a mad dash to get to stairways and elevators.

"No! No, help me!" Pepper heard a woman's voice scream above all the rest. She rushed into the room next door in time to see a woman that she's seen around often- Laura, maybe? She worked in public relations. Her face was twisted in horror as she looked down at herself. Pepper was perplexed at first, but then saw something she never thought possible. From the feet up, Laura disintegrated right in front of her. Clouds of what looked like ashes blew around her until she was gone. What. The. Hell. Pepper didn't know how to react. She just stood there with wide eyes, frozen in the hallway.

It wasn't until someone aggressively shoved past her, nearly knocking her to the floor when she snapped out of it. She flattened herself against the wall as people rushed past in a mad frenzy. Before her very eyes, she watched as only about half of them made it to exits. The other half met the same exact fate as Laura from Public Relations- dust. This couldn't be real. She had to be having some twisted nightmare.

Just wanting to get away from the stampede, Pepper turned and shut herself in an empty conference room and backed away from the door through which she could still hear the screams. Eventually, the back of her legs hit the large table in the center of the room. She steadied herself by leaning against the table and gripping the back of a chair. With her free hand, she did the only thing she could think to do: Call Tony.

Of course, he didn't answer. She had called him every fifteen minutes since he had disappeared with the same outcome. She desperately wanted to hear his voice though.

Pepper tried a number of different people after that. Maria Hill, Nick Fury, Happy... She was about to try Rhodey when she realized that the anarchic sounds of the people panicking outside had ceased completely, leaving only an eerie silence and that high pitched ringing that you could hear inside your own head sometimes if it was quiet enough. Pepper let her phone slide out of her hand and hit the floor, curiously making her way towards the door and opening it cautiously.

Ms. Potts stepped into the hallway that was just full of crazed industry employees only seconds ago. Now, the only thing left was that same dust or ash or whatever it was... human remains? Pepper clenched her fists and tried not to think about it. The dust swirled around her feet and down the hall towards the office she knew to be part of HR. Pepper sidestepped around the ashes the best she could, entering the HR office to see a window had been smashed wide open from a cubicle divider that was shoved over. Wind rushed in and blew her hair back from her face as she approached and looked down at the streets of New York in horror.

Cars were smashed into light poles, mailboxes, buildings, you name it. People were flooding the streets, not knowing what to do or where to go. The most terrifying part of the scene was the incoming object falling from the sky. It looked small at first; like a diving bird. But as it got closer, Pepper knew it was no bird. It was a plane. It was a large commercial plane probably full of people. The aircraft took almost no time to soar down towards the lawless streets, seeming like it would hit only a few blocks from Stark Industries. Pepper couldn't help but just stand there and watch as it collided with an office building down the street. The impact was so loud and shook the ground, pulling an involuntary shriek from Pep as she winced away out of habit. This was it. This was the end of the world.

She didn't know how she managed to get there, but Pepper ended up back at home at her and Tony's New York mansion. She remained in a daze through the whole process, relying on her subconscious and muscle memory to get her home. Somehow it had worked, because there she was, standing in the foyer of a large, vacant house. Usually, when Tony would be away on missions, she'd refrain from returning home. It'd just remind her of him and she'd be a wreck until he returned home and alive. Pepper would even sleep in her office sometimes, awake most of the night trying to keep herself busy by burying herself in work.

Pepper looked down at her hands and saw they were dirtied in a foreign, chalky material; the dust. She suddenly felt sick. Pepper rushed to the master bathroom and turned on the sink, abrasively scrubbing the stuff from her skin. As she dried herself with the hand towel, an object near the toilet on the other side of the bathroom caught her eye. The brightly colored box poking out from the drugstore bag reminded her of yet another thing she had to worry about. It would have to wait, though. She couldn't take another "surprise".

She wasn't sure if it was just because she was freaking out or what, but all of the sudden, her pencil skirt, tights and button down shirt felt like they were getting tighter and tighter around her. Stumbling into her bedroom, Pepper frantically unbuttoned her shirt and threw it off, doing the same to her skirt and tights. She was breathing hard now, nearly hyperventilating. If anyone was watching, surely they'd think she cracked up. She felt a little better once she was free of her work clothes though- a _little_. Pepper walked to her and Tony's closet, wrapping her arms around her bare torso. She wasn't cold (although she was shaking like a chihuahua); it was more for security at this point.

Potts began scanning her comfortable clothes for something to put on but instead was drawn to the shirt Tony carelessly discarded on the floor before they had gone running earlier today. Pepper shakily bent down and took it in her hand, straightening and holding it out in front of her. God, he _loved_ that Black Sabbath shirt. It was worn and faded, but he still wore it around the house constantly.

Still operating on autopilot, Pepper lifted the shirt above her head and slipped it on. She was instantly enveloped in a distinct Tony-specific scent. She could never place it for exactly what it was- a mix of his workshop, his soap, and his natural scent she supposed. It didn't much matter to her right now though. All Pepper knew was that the aroma was enough to break through whatever walls she put up in the past thirty minutes ever since this nightmare had turned from bad to worse. Everything crashed down on her- Tony leaving in an alien spaceship, reports of the rest of the Avengers shipping off to fight wars in a secret, African country, people turning to dust right before her eyes, that stupid box sitting on her bathroom floor, waiting to be opened... All of it.

Pepper let a sob escape throat as the rest of her body gave in as well. Her back hit the doorframe of the large walk-in closet and she allowed herself to slide down to the floor. Pep pulled her knees to her chest and clutched Tony's shirt to her body, burying her face in the fabric as sobs wracked her body.

 _Come home! Come home! Come home!_ She internally pleaded to no one. Pepper subconsciously played with the ring on her finger, pulling it off to examine it. It startled her when she realized that her fingers were glowing with an orange-red light. It only took a few seconds to remember, however: the extremis.

So, yes. Tony did find suitable solutions for dulling down the effects of the extremis serum coursing through her veins, but that was the extent at which the medications reached- only _dulling_ her "powers" if you could call them that. Of course, Tony didn't know this. She herself didn't even realize it until she stormed out on him during one of the bigs fights that led to their break up some time ago. She had been so worked up that it triggered something within her. Needless to say, she nearly crashed her car when she caught a glimpse of her reflection that night and was glowing from head to toe, nearly burning up her clothes and car seats. Pepper wasn't about to drag Tony back into the whole mess when they had separated (maybe her pride was to blame for that one). Besides, most of the time she couldn't even trigger the extremis even if she tried. It seemed to be only when she felt an overload of emotions, just like right now.

Slowing her breathing and choked sobs enough to kill the effects of the extremis, Pepper let herself fall sideways until she was lying down on her side in the doorway between the closet and her and Tony's bedroom. Pepper still held the ring out in front of her, placing it on the floor so that she could just watch it as if it would bring Tony back.

She wasn't sure how long she stayed like that. At least she had stopped crying, eventually. Now she was just paralyzed there, unsure of what to do next.

At some point, there was a low hum coming from what sounded like outside the mansion. Pepper frowned and lifted her head to listen. The humming grew louder. And louder. And louder. Soon the whole house was rumbling around her. Pep quickly pushed herself to stand, finding her strength once again. Pepper's first desperate hope was that it was Tony returning in the suit, but it was much too loud. It sounded like a jet.

Grabbing a pair of jeans and sliding them on hurriedly, Pepper rushed through the house and out the front door in too much of a hurry to realize that she had left her ring behind on the floor where she had her quick melt-down.

Bursting into the fresh air, Pepper was instantly met with the sight of what looked like a giant quinjet. There was that hope again. She wanted nothing more than to see Tony step off, wrap her in his arms and tell her everything would be okay.

The hatch opened. The person who she saw was _far_ more shocking than anyone she could've even fathomed. If she thought this day couldn't get any more deranged and twisted, she was VERY wrong. Taking a step forward towards the jet and squinting in pure astonishment, Pepper's mouth fell slightly agape.

"Phil?"

"Miss Potts." Phil Coulson greeted. "Need a ride upstate?"


	4. Am I Going Insane

He couldn't explain the true feeling if he tried, no matter how often he experienced. He couldn't feel his limbs. He couldn't speak. He felt like something was squeezing him until his lungs were devoid of all air. The walls appeared like they were wobbling and closing in. Stark wanted nothing more than to run... escape. He didn't know from what- his own body? His mind? He couldn't run, though. He was trapped- and that was the most terrifying realization of them all.

For the first time in years, Tony felt his panic attack consume him.

He didn't have any strength to fight back. Without even realizing what he was doing, Stark stumbled past the figures in the room. He didn't even have the capacity to remember or visualize who was who. He just knew he needed to get away. Again though, it was like trying to escape something inescapable. A feeling of complete loss of control.

"Stark, hey."

"Tony..."

"Boss, sit down for a minute."

Tony could hear everyone speaking to him at once but he wasn't listening in the slightest. His vision blurred and he tried to fight through tunnel vision. Stark's hand found the edge of the door and he gripped it tightly as if it was his last attempt at gripping reality.

 _She's gone. He's gone too. They're all gone._

"I just-" Tony tried to speak words. He didn't even recognize his own voice.

"Hey." Steve's voice sounded _way_ too loud as if it were coming from inside Tony's own head. He felt a strong hand on his shoulder, trying to stop him from leaving. Tony's reflexes kicked in and he aggressively ripped his shoulder away.

"Don't!" he warned, stumbling out into the hallway and turning the corner into a new passageway where no one could see him and his mental break-down. Tony pushed his back up against the wall. He turned his eyes towards the ceiling where fluorescent lights beamed a much-too-harsh light down on him. Closing his eyes, Stark tried to focus on breathing, but it was almost as if he couldn't remember how. He took short, choppy, wheezy breaths in and out, feeling his lungs burn with effort.

"Uh... Does that happen often?" Tony could hear Rocket's voice from around the corner.

"Not exactly..." Thor's voice followed, obviously still confused about what just happened.

"Well, actually..." Rhodey countered. It went quiet.

"What actually? This has happened before?" Steve asked authoritatively.

"Er... Ever since New York." Bruce reluctantly piped in. "He's really been beating himself up about this for a long time."

"We've all been stressed, but we're not having full blown panic attacks. Why didn't he tell us?" Natasha questioned.

"Yeah, Tony's gonna sit us all down 'round the campfire and tell us about his feelings." Rhodey mocked sarcastically.

"Point taken."

The rest of the voices became murmurs, most belonging to Cap. Tony wasn't paying attention anyway. His eyes frantically wandered around, trying to find something to focus on; something to tether himself to reality. Instead, he found himself looks up at the second-floor balcony. Wanda's door was up there, covered in posters and art and other angsty things that Tony poked fun at her for. He always forgot how young she was though, barely pushing 20.

Vision's door was next to hers. An idea Tony had started with, come to life in ways he never could've imagined himself. He had a part in creating Vision. Something Tony never admitted was how truly proud he was to have had a part in that. Vision may not have been human, but he was just as valuable in every single way. Tony brought him into the world, but he couldn't even protect him from it.

Tony didn't like looking at things that made him remember his failure to protect his "super-family", but it seemed to be the only thing that even remotely distracted himself from his greatest failure of all.

"Shit." Tony whispered under his breath, feeling a deep ache grow in his chest. His throat acquired quite a large lump to the point where it was hurting him worse than his stab wound. Stark let his head fall as he pulled in a stuttering breath. "I'm sorry." He whispered to no one, but pretending somehow it'd reach his dead fiancee. He knew it was too late for apologies though. It was too late for everything. Sliding to the floor, he continued without being able to help himself. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry." He continued anyway, his voice only a raspy breath. Tears finally began to fill his eyes as the panic faded away and was replaced with a grief he had never experienced before. It was a pain he wouldn't wish on anyone- anyone but Thanos who he hoped would die of ache that was one billion times worse.

Tony hadn't even realized that the murmurs around the corner had stopped. He fairly remembered the shuffle of feet fading away down the hall, leaving silence. Well, silence and one pair of footsteps left remaining. They approached him, bringing a tall figure to his side. Tony knew who it was just by his perfect posture and hero-like build. Turning his head away from Steve Rogers, Stark blinked and felt tears escape down his cheeks. Cap sat down next to him.

"Tony..."

"What? Did I scare the kids?" Stark asked bitterly, sniffling and pulling a knee closer to his chest.

"Yes, you scared all of us. Why didn't you tell me you were suffering from attacks?"

"You can't fix everything with your voluptuous golden locks and patriotic prowess," Tony spat at him, facing forward so he could at least see Cap out of the corner of his eye. Immediately after the words left his mouth he regretted it, turning fully away from Steve once more. "Or every _one_ while we're at it." He added softly. "Not your problem, Rogers."

"Like hell, it isn't!" Steve retorted, but not with anger. Tony rolled his eyes. Even when he mocked and insulted both his appearance and personality, Steve never missed a beat with his selfless nature and emotional control. They couldn't be more day and night. "You're a member of this team. Heck, you and I- together we lead this team. We're partners. I could've-"

"We _used_ to be. As in past tense. Because I seem to remember you running into the sunset with freaking Imperator Furiosa..."

"Stark-"

"...Fury, MIA- no help for shit, Banner and Thor frolicking around in the cosmos, and the rest of the happy family thrown in the cooler like sitting ducks. And _yes,_ I know. That one's all on me." Tony was speaking faster, louder, and with more urgency. He was nearly shouting at this point.

"What are you saying?"

"Maybe, just _maybe_ , if we got off our high horses and pulled our heads out of our asses, our friends and family and half of the goddamn universe wouldn't- we- we should've stuck together." Tony trailed off at the end, getting softer suddenly. "We could've been better. I could've-"

Tony felt the ring between his fingers again and lost it, the breath escaping his body without returning. He closed the small piece of jewelry in his hand and turned from Rogers again, tears threatening to spill over his face. Tony gritted his teeth and willed for his friend to just leave. And yes, he truly meant his _friend_. No matter what happened in the past or how much Rogers irked him, he was still one of his closest friends, and it wasn't just because Tony had trouble making friends either.

"I'm sorry, Tony."

"I actually thought-" Tony's voice broke and he instantly stopped. "Ughh..." he groaned, shaking his head as if to reset himself. He took a deep breath and started again.

"I actually thought it was getting better. I mean... You left, the team broke up and that sucked, but Pep and I..."

It hurt like hell to say her name, especially his nickname for her.

"...we finally got to a good place. I had the kid; probably the closest thing I'll ever get to my own. Well, now anyway."

Tony thought about his dream of Pepper and him having a kid of their own for a split second and then instantly had to divert his thoughts at lightning speed.

"Not that I ever told _him_ that. And New York... After six years, _six years_ , of bugging out over damn alien ghosts haunting me from space, I thought it might be safe to relax; live a bit. Finally tie the knot with Miss Potts."

Tony felt a sturdy hand on his shoulder for a moment before it slipped off again. Then silence. The two of them sat in it for a while.

"Uh, hey guys." Banner's voice startled Tony. Cap and Stark looked up. "We're almost ready for Tony in the med lab."

Steve stood and offered a hand out to Stark. He accepted and allowed Rogers to help him to his feet, grimacing against the pain in his side. Tiredly, he wrapped an arm around Cap's shoulders and together they headed back to his room in silence. What was there left to say?

The three Avengers were nearing Tony's doorway, and that's when shit hit the fan. Things moved so fast. Shouts were heard from the lobby; glass shattering, weapons colliding, lighting being summoned... The next thing Tony knew, Steve was lightly shoving him into his room, holding his hand out as if to tell him to stay.

"Hang back on this one. We've got it." Cap told him. Sure, Tony was beaten down, buried in grief, and exhausted as hell, but he still didn't like Rogers thinking he could bench him. He was about to chase after Steve and Banner who were already halfway to the lobby, but his wound had other ideas. Stark winced and instead gripped the door frame tightly while watching as "Thanos's children" flooded the facility.

Panic gripped Stark in a new way; not in the incapacitating way that an attack did, but in an adrenaline pumping, reflex kicking way. He was suddenly overcome with anger and defensiveness. This was _his_ compound that he built for his team. He wouldn't ever admit it, but he put endless time and effort into creating this place, this... _home_ for everyone. He may have lost a lot in the past couple hours, but he was just starting to realize that he didn't lose everything. As Rogers had plainly put it in that stupid, heartening letter, the Avengers were Tony's family. Now, they truly were all he had left... and they were currently fighting for their lives against more of those twisted alien bastards.

Stark took a deep breath and straightened, gritting his teeth against the pain. God, he hoped this wouldn't do him in. And if it did...

 _Oh well_. He thought.

* * *

The quinjet descended into the chaos surrounding the compound. Pepper pressed her shoulder against the window and tried to get a better look. Glass was shattered everywhere, a few columns obliterated, and the grass torn up. The moving bodies were too small to distinguish who or even what was down there, but they started to come into focus as they soared closer.

"I need everyone on high alert once we hit the ground." Phil was saying behind her. She had decided to put flipping out over Phil Coulson on hold until bigger matters were resolved. He tried to explain what had happened ever since he was presumed dead... wait no, he _was_ dead. Or wasn't he? Pepper didn't understand but honestly, she didn't have much incentive to understand at the moment.

The quinjet hit the ground with a lurch and Pepper shot up. The hatch started opening, and she was the first one out, Phil calling after her.

"Miss Potts! Miss Potts, please if you would stay back just for now-"

Pepper ignored him and hurriedly walked over the ruined terrain to a giant shattered window that was reduced to only a frame. Through it, there was too much going on to take in at once. The first person she saw was Steve Rogers with a new beard but lacking his shield. He was slamming his fist into a nightmare-ish looking alien entity that ran on all muscular fours and screamed through rows and rows of jagged teeth. Most of the aliens were of this species that she saw. Otherwise, there were more civil looking... things fighting in opposite corners of the lobby.

There was quite a mix of people there from Nat to decorated Wakandan warriors to... _was that a raccoon?_ All of the battling before her wasn't even close to the worst part though- it was that Tony wasn't there like she had prayed he would be. Her heart sank a bit, but she didn't let it keep her back from what she knew she could do to help. Locating the southwest hallway, Pepper eyed the fighting raging before her and looked for an outlet. She was going to have to run, and if she was attacked...

Pepper looked down at her hand and tried to summon her glow, but it was dormant. Alright, so she just would have to avoid getting caught. Taking a deep breath and refraining from thinking too much, Pepper hopped over the window frame and sprinted through the chaos. She had a clear path to the southwest wing until one of those repulsive, fleshy creatures took a running leap straight for her path. Thinking quick on instinct, Pepper kicked her legs out from under her and slid underneath the beast's path. It flew over her, it's back claw barely grazing against her forearm that she held above her face for protection. It must've been sharp as Hell, because she didn't feel her skin tearing or any contact at all. But when Pepper pulled herself back up on her feet and continued running, her arm stung and she could feel the heat of her own blood running down towards her wrist. She kept running.

"Pepper?" An alarmed voice shouted over the violence. Pepper whipped around to come face to face with a very confused Bruce Banner. She was confused as to why he didn't "go green" for this particular situation, but she didn't have time to ask.

"Get all of the new people off the first floor." She instructed through heavy breathing. He just looked at her, dumbfounded. "Bruce!"

"I- Okay, okay..." He stuttered, turning and trotting off towards the new Avengers. It was then when Pepper realized all of them were stealing looks at her now, wide-eyed and in awe. Fear gripped her chest as she realized the worst, but most realistic explanation; Tony was dead and they were fearing to tell her. Pepper quickly wiped away the thought and kept her mind set on what she was aiming to do.

Sprinting down the hallway, Pepper bid her past self a silent thank you for slipping on TOMS shoes before leaving the house rather than any of her other less practical footwear. She saw her destination at the end of the long stretch- the Security Control Center or "SCC" as Tony always referred to it. Inside held controls to activate any range of defensive tech and weapons installed around the compound to ward off intruders. Typically, it could be activated by F.R.I.D.A.Y through Tony's suit, but she had all the access codes. Pepper just prayed she hadn't forgotten them.

She so frantically typed in the code on the holographic keypad that she didn't even realize she was remembering the codes before she was punching them in. The door opened with a pop and air-release sound. Soon Pepper was standing surrounded by a giant holographic cylinder. F.R.I.D.A.Y spoke up.

"Good Evening, Miss Potts. What can I-"

"Uh, deploy the, uh..." She desperately tried to remember the names of the defense systems Tony had taught her in case of an emergency. She probably should've been listening better, but he starts talking tech and she zones out and rather focuses on the facial expressions he makes when explaining his creations. She did love that.

Instead of trying to remember, she swiped her hand through the air to browse the different functions.

"FRE 7546." She said, tapping on the screen for good measure. The particular defense used the cameras around the compound's lobby to recognize people in the old S.H.I.E.L.D database along with every Avenger, save from the new ones. People or creatures that weren't recognized instantly received 1,000 kilovolts, enough to knock a substantial subject down on their ass. That's why Pepper needed all new people evacuated, not that they'd be _killed_ per se, but-

"Shit, Cap!" Pepper heard Natasha's voice yell. She stepped back into the hallway and looked forward towards the lobby to see that somehow one of those creatures had escaped the blast of voltage and was charging straight for her.

Everything happened lightning quick. Pepper took a few stumbling steps back into the control room, gripping the edge of the giant, reinforced door to attempt closing it manually; it wouldn't budge. Pepper knew she had to press the button so it could shut automatically, but that would be much too slow. The beast was making record timing and she expected the impact in less than two seconds. The only thing left to do was...

"Come on," Pepper whispered to herself, looking down at her glow barely showed itself in the tips of fingers. Her stomach lurched as she realized this was it. She was helpless.

A _very_ familiar sound exuded from her right. It was muffled, coming through the walls of glass that made up the entire right side of the hallway. She'd recognize that sound anywhere though. She was pretty sure everyone in the world would recognize that sound anywhere.

The sound of the repulsor charging up finished with a deafening blast, sending glass splaying out everywhere. Pepper would've shrieked from surprise if she even had time to process. She cringed back and crossed her arms in front of her face by reflex. She was glad she did, because small pieces of glass rained down on her.

Meanwhile, the alien animal was blasted into the opposite wall with a burst of light in no time. It hit with a sickening thud and squish. Miraculously, it was still kicking. It pushed itself to its feet aggressively, whipping its ugly head around to the source of the attack. If the thing had emotions, Pepper was sure it would look bewildered, completely blindsided by what the hell just struck it. Pepper knew though, and she didn't think she had ever been so relieved and ecstatic. She felt her whole body slump into the doorframe that she gripped for support. She wasn't hurt- she was just overcome with assuagement.

Tony burst through any glass that was remaining. Pepper mentally rolled her eyes. Him and his dramatic entrances.

"Iron Man" stamped monster in the face, sending it sprawling to the floor. He extended his arm fired something into its snarling mouth. Tony stepped back and raised a titanium-clad arm in front of him to shield from a small explosion that engulfed and finally finished the creature. Silence fell over the compound. Dust fell gently from the ceiling, filling the air in between Tony and Pepper. It only took a few seconds for her to realize that he hadn't even seen her yet.

"Rogers..." Tony said, his helmet falling back. He stepped over the mutilated remains on the floor and started walking towards all the Avengers who had gathered at the end of the hallway, staring back at them. "I don't care how many 'bromance' moments we have, don't put me on the bench again."

The only person who was calm and collected in the group of heroes was Steve Rogers who stood at the head of the pack with his shoulders high and squared towards Tony. He crossed his arms in front of his chest with a little smirk as if to say 'I know something you don't'.

"Tony." he calmly said, stopping Tony from walking any further. Pepper watched her fiancee cock his head to the side questioningly. She couldn't help but let a thin smile spread across her face, biting her lip to try to keep from breaking down right then and there. So many things could've gone wrong. He was in space for one. There were countless awful ways to die up there. He was in an evil aliens spacecraft; enough said. And half the world fell away to dust. How was Pepper to know that he wasn't one of them until right then?

Attention turning back to Steve, Pepper watched Captain Rogers nod his head towards her. They made eye contact and he gave her an acknowledging small bow of his head. She smiled back, taking in the other Avengers astounded gazes until turning her gaze back to the one thing she had so _desperately_ longed to see the most.

* * *

"Tony," Cap said, a smug little smirk on his face. Tony frowned. What the hell was his deal? Stark was sure the Captain would be pissed that he ignored his... Tony would call it a 'light suggestion'. Tony was about to join the fight when he remembered all the defensive measures he installed around the base. He was making his way over to the SCC when he saw the disgusting blob of vicious flesh through the glass. Stark couldn't help himself.

This was weird though. Steve looked as if he was in on some big joke that only Tony didn't know about. Captain America was hardly one to ever crack a smile. Honestly, Tony didn't think he wore many expressions apart from dead-panned sobriety and sultry nobility. Now certainly was an odd time to start experimenting with new ones.

Stark whipped his head around to see what all the hullabaloo was about. Every moment after that was... inexplicable.

Actually, it was strangely similar to a panic attack but minus the panic. A... happiness attack? As dumb as that sounded, but that's what it felt like. His chest tightened, his stomach flipped, his throat grew another swelling lump, and his breathing stopped altogether as if he moved the tiniest of muscles, she'd be gone forever once again. But there she was, stepping out of the SCC wearing his Black Sabbath shirt with her hair tousled, blood trekking down her right arm, and eyes still red; most likely from crying, he noted painfully, remembering returning to those same tired eyes every time he came home from missions. She was so real, right there in front of him. _Please_ let her be real. Tony couldn't imagine why she wouldn't be, but it seemed too good to be true and in these times, you never knew.

There were very few moments where Tony Stark was rendered speechless. Needless to say, this one he would remember the most.

"I thought for sure you'd ditched me and run off with some alien bitch." She joked. "Or... you know, _died_." Pepper finished with some sass, but what was new. Tony began slowly walking forward. He wasn't sure what was making his legs move, but it sure didn't feel like it was him.

"And that's the first thing you'd do?" Tony managed to play along, fighting to get out words. "Steal all my clothes?"

Pepper chuckled and looked down at the Black Sabbath shirt, gripping the hem in her hands. Tony released his suit and let it retract from around him. He stepped forward onto the floor of shattered glass in his running shoes that he was still wearing from that morning. _Christ, this has been the longest day_.

"Do me a favor," Tony reached in his pocket and pulled out the ring. Pepper's eyes widened upon seeing it. ", and hold onto this, will ya? It's like, your one job until the wedding." _The wedding._ The word used to be extremely anxiety-inducing to even think about just minutes ago, but now it was something that Tony could once again look forward to. It _existed_ again. Honestly, Stark was impressed by his ability to keep his demeanor somewhat together on the outside. He and everyone around him knew that his insides were anything but.

"My _one_ job? You're joking." She said flatly. They both were walking towards each other slowly now, approaching cautiously as if afraid that one or the other would suddenly disappear into, well, dust. "Why don't you find the venue, pick the flowers, make invitations, hire-"

Pepper stopped dead in the middle of her sentence. The gap was closed and there they were. The first thing Tony did was reach his hand forward with the ring. Pepper held out her own hand for him to slide it back where it belonged. Even just the graze of his fingertips on the backs of her hands sent warmth through his body. His mind begged him to wrap her in his arms and hold her tightly until the end of times, but he body was just not responding. Instead, he stood there, admiring her and letting her reach a hand up to gently touch his face.

"You look like Hell." she said with a low voice, brushing her thumb across his cheekbone. Tony closed his eyes and leaned into her touch, savoring the feeling that he thought he had lost forever.

"Worse than that one night in Rio?" Tony asked with a small smile, his voice even softer.

"By far," she whispered.

"That _is_ bad."

Tony finally found it in himself to move already. Their casual banter helped a lot, actually. He let his fingertips graze up her arms and run up the sides of her neck until he ever-so-gently cupped her face in his hands. His smile had fallen away completely and he was left standing there just watching her and thinking about how only seconds ago, he was so sure that she was gone.

"Tony?" Pepper inquired worriedly, noticing the expression he wore. Stark took a shuddering breath and let his hands fall to her waist as his arms snaked around her torse, pulling her in close to him and holding her tightly. She circled her own arms around him, sliding her hands underneath his jacket and over his back, feeling the fabric of his thin t-shirt and the muscles underneath. Tony shifted his right hand to fall over the small of her back and he pulled her in even tighter, burying his face in her neck and smelling her hair.

The whole world fell apart today. Lots of people died. Lots of people that he truly cared about, just dead for good. But right now in this small moment while holding Pepper, _his_ Pepper, Stark was happy. It was the end of the world and she still had the power to do that for him.

The one thing she couldn't do, however, was make the true physical pain in his side disappear. After a few moments of just standing there, probably squeezing the life out of Pepper, Tony began to notice his wound again. It started as a dull ache, then a sharp jab, and then it grew from there. Tony involuntarily made a small groan-whimper noise and his right leg buckled underneath him. Luckily, he was holding onto Pepper so securely that he was able to regain his stability. Her hands moved quickly to grip his biceps.

"Hey, are you okay?"

Tony coughed and winced against the pain it brought. He pulled back out of Pepper's grasp and stumbled a bit, coughing once more. This time, he brought his hand back tainted with blood.

"Tony!" Pepper exclaimed, her voice tinged with terror.

Bruce emerged from where all of the rest of the Avengers had been apparently standing and watching this whole time. He ran down the trashed hallway to Stark's side who was having trouble seeing clearly now.

"Hey, we're going to get you to the med bay." Banner said, putting a hand on Tony's shoulder. Tony couldn't focus on what he was saying, though. Voices started sounding distant and objects were becoming blurry. "Now!" Banner shouted, looking to the Avengers for some assistance. Tony felt a large presence at his side as he staggered sideways, nearly collapsing into the rubble. Thor put a giant hand on Stark's shoulder to steady him.

"We've got incoming!" Rhodey's voice shouted from somewhere in the distance. That didn't sound good. Tony desperately wanted to snap out of it and be a part of the action, but something was happening- something bad.

"We need to get out of here. This is the first place Thanos is going to keep sending these things." That girl Shuri spoke up.

"What we need is to get Tony to the operating table now."

"We don't have time."

"If we transport him, I doubt he'll be able to make it this time."

"Shit..."

Natasha and Bruce argued. Tony felt a hand gripping his own through the commotion. It was really the only thing tethering him to reality. Pepper entwined her fingers with his and gently grazed the inside of his forearm with her nails. She knew he absolutely loved that. He knew she was probably confused and worried as to why he was nearly passing out and coughing up blood, but he just couldn't find the strength right now to tell her.

In the same respect, a new wave of nausea washed over Stark. The pain shot through him like a knife and was more relentless than usual. Tony felt himself slip away, Thor's massive arms barely catching him before he hit the ground. The last things he thought were,

1\. He needed to stop suddenly passing out in front of the team; it was embarrassing.

2\. It would _suck_ if he died right after getting Pepper back.


	5. Sabbath Bloody Sabbath

"No!" Pepper objected. "Tony..."

"Babe, it's either that or I probably kick the bucket on the way out of here." Tony wheezed from the table in the middle of the med bay. The fighting had taken out a good chunk of the room, including the storage unit where they kept the anesthesia. Tony was awake enough to propose that they progress without it. Pepper didn't like the idea, especially since she now knew the full extent of his injury. Pepper was astounded that Tony survived such a stab in the first place, but to remain awake while Bruce and Shuri toyed around with his insides?

"It's dangerous. Tony, are you sure about this?" Bruce asked, his face twisted with concern.

"Well we don't have much time or many options, do we?"

Tony _was_ right about that. When Rhodey announced incoming, they had assumed more of those alien creatures were sent to take them out. However, it was much worse (according to the others). The being behind all of this- the dusting, the attacks, Tony's stab wound- was coming for them, determined to rid "his" world of any remaining blemishes. Thanos, they called him. Thanos the Titan.

"I'll need you to be still. We're going to need someone in here to hold you down. Thor... Captain, maybe,"

"No." Tony argued Banner. Pepper could tell he meant to be forceful, but it barely came out a murmur. Her heart was beating fast in her chest and her insides felt like they were twisting around each other. If he didn't make it out of this alive, she'd kill him. "They're going to need them. F.R.I.D.A.Y-"

Banner, Shuri, and Pepper watched as Tony raised a shaky hand to his bare chest, tapping the triangle reactor and then letting his arm fall back onto the table limply.

"Lock down." He breathed tiredly. The Iron Man suit began materializing around solely his wrists and ankles, finishing its formation with a loud _click_. Pepper watched Tony's muscles strain as he tested the suits function. He was held down to the table tightly, unable to move. "Hey, honey would you grab that over there?" Tony turned his dark brown orbs up to Pepper who stood at the head of the operating table, behind him. He turned his gaze to a box of towels across the room as if to point. Pepper's breath caught in her throat. This was getting real morbid real fast. "Please?"

Pepper reluctantly got a towel and returned to her spot by Tony's head. He looked up at her through tired eyes, his face getting paler and paler by the second.

"And just... twist-"

Pepper already knew what he had in mind though. She twisted the towel tightly with shaking hands.

"Yep. Thanks." He said, finishing with a cough.

"Mr. Stark, I don't know that I'd recommend this. You'll be moving around a lot no matter how much we try to restrain you, and if we niche something like an artery inside of you,"

"You're also not in the best state right now, Tony. Enough pain and exertion could-"

A _bang_ started them all. Everyone's heads whipped around to see Thor smashed up against the window of the med bay, his face twisted in pain. Sliding back down to his feet on the floor, he rapped on the glass.

"We would greatly appreciate timeliness!" He called. The God looked as if he was going to say something else when a purple whisp of light circled around his ankle and within the blink of an eye, his entire body was cast aside out of their vision.

"Alright, let's do this." Tony said, a little more urgency in his voice. Shuri and Banner hurriedly slipped on gloves and started prepping, pulling over a cart of terrifying looking tools. "Potts?"

Pepper took a stuttering breath and gripped the towel in her hands, moving it over Tony's mouth.

"Kinda hot though, right?" He managed to get in before opening his mouth enough to bite down on the towel. He gestured towards his restrained body on the table and the towel in his mouth, raising his eyebrows suggestively at her. In any other case, she would've laughed and rolled her eyes, but she couldn't joke around in times like this like he could. She just raised an eyebrow at him. He laughed a muffled giggle through the towel, finishing with a fit of coughs. Pepper's expression turned from unamused to worry as she reached her hand forward and ran her fingers through his hair until his body stopped convulsing from coughing.

Tony turned his eyes back up to her. He took a deep breath to regain himself and winked at her. Even strapped to a table near death, he knew how to be charming.

Pepper smiled a bit and stared back into her fiance's eyes. They were glazed over, probably from coughing, but it made them look even more reflective than usual. She was terrified and couldn't stop shaking, but those eyes still managed to send a warm feeling flowering through her chest. At least he was here on Earth with her, alive for now. They'd have to deal with whatever was left to come like this messed-up torture surgery, but at least they could do it together. _One step at a time_. She thought.

They stayed like that for a while, Pepper's hands on either side of his head while staring down into those same gorgeous eyes she was so lucky to wake up to every morning. Tony laid completely still, barely even blinking as he watched her. It was almost as if they were having a conversation purely through staring.

"Mmm, hmmhmhmmm." He tried to talk through the towel but producing nothing but muffled syllables.

"What?"

"Mm. Mm. _Mm_." He said, looking straight into her eyes. Pepper bit her lip as a tear spilled down her face. She wiped it away and sniffled a bit, forcing a smile. She leaned over and kissed his forehead, wrapping her arms gently around his neck.

"I love you too." She whispered into his skin, pressing her forehead to his upside down for a bit before standing again. The thing that really killed her was that she wasn't sure if he said that to calm her down or because it may be the last time he'd ever be able to say it.

Suddenly, Tony's eyes snapped away from hers and turned to Bruce instead who to Pepper's surprise, was already making an incision in Tony's skin.

"Mm!" Tony grunted in protest. Pepper turned away from the sight. She really wasn't good with that kind of stuff.

"This is only the nano-bandaging, Tony. Hold still." Bruce instructed. Pepper heard Tony took a stuttering breath; he was scared, she could tell. Who wouldn't be? Pepper pulled over a chair and sat next to him, sliding her hand into his own that was held down by the suit-part enclosing his wrist. She ran her thumb along the back of his hand and used her other hand to gently comb through his hair again. His breathing steadied, but only a little. His eyes were squeezed shut, anticipating the pain to start; and boy, did it start.

Within a few seconds, Tony was full on screaming through the towel, his back arching off the table as much as it physically could. Pepper could see every one of the muscles protruding from his arms as he struggled against his own restraints with all the effort and strength he had left. He was squeezing her hand tightly, but she could barely feel it. Banner was shouting things to Shuri, and Shuri would shout things back, but all Pepper could really focus on was the screaming. She could only watch Tony's face twist into an expression of intense pain, his eyes watering and causing tears to silently fall from the corners of his eyes on occasion. This was something she doubted she'd easily forget.

There was a break where Banner and Shuri needed suck out blood from where they were working. The sound of the suction was quite frankly sickening, so Pepper stood to look at Tony's face and focus all her attention on him. His eyes stared up at her through droopy lids.

"If we're lucky, he'll pass out." Banner said through his surgical mask. Tony _did_ look like he was close. All color had drained from his face and Pepper could tell his eyes were having a hard time focusing on her. His breathing was labored, his chest rising and falling dynamically. Pepper used everything she had in her to not let any more tears escape. It was _awful_ seeing him like this, but not as awful as being on that table where he was. She wanted to be strong for Tony so that he knew she was there for him.

"You're almost done," she promised him with her wavering voice, running her fingertips down the side of his face. He was significantly sweatier than when they started only five minutes ago, his skin glistening under the artificial medical lights. Tony's eyes slid closed but he groaned quietly in response. Pepper scooted her chair so that when she sat, she was closer to the side of his head. She kissed his temple and stretched out her arms on either side of his head, resting her closed fists on his sternum that was still rising and falling dramatically.

"If you think you can get out of marrying me, Anthony Stark, you're sorely mistaken." She told him through her own labored breaths. Pepper hadn't even realized she was breathing so heavily. Tony suddenly jolted on the table and of course, more screaming. Pepper caught a glimpse of Shuri poking around in Tony's open wound. She quickly looked away and took a deep breath, trying to continue to distract him the best she could.

"It would be goddamn expensive to cancel. Just a complete inconvenience, really." She joked, her voice thick and threatening to break. Tony went back to heavy breathing again before Bruce went back in and the world was turned upside down once more. Pepper felt Tony's chest jerk underneath her hands. God, she felt so helpless. This time, she couldn't stop tears from escaping.

Tony relaxed a bit again. Pepper sniffled and willed herself to keep talking to him.

"My mother will be such a pain to deal with, just so you know. She always is with stuff like this. Of course, _you'll_ get along with her fine as always. She's so smitten with you. Kind of irritating."

Pepper could've sworn she felt a partial chuckle from within Tony's chest, but then the screaming started again.

"Almost done. Hang in there for me, Tony." Banner informed. A few seconds passed and Tony's screaming started to fade. At first, Pepper thought it was because Banner and Shuri were giving him a break, but she could still see them working out of the corner of her eye. Pepper raised herself out of her chair a bit to examine Tony's face. Yep, passed out... She hoped, anyway.

Raising a hurried hand to his neck, Pepper checked his pulse.

"He okay?" Bruce asked her, obviously worried but not able to look up from whatever the hell he was doing.

"Yeah." Pepper managed to choke out. She sat down again, letting her head fall on the table with a deep breath. She was relieved a little more now that he had fallen under and the screaming had stopped. She just hoped he couldn't feel the pain anymore.

* * *

"-the others and skip outta here." Tony heard Bruce's voice echoing in his head. Bruce? He hadn't seen Bruce in forever! He missed his buddy.

"Will he be okay to move?" Pepper's voice joined in next. Tony frowned internally. Something in his chest hurt when he thought about her, and he didn't know why.

"As long as it's slow and cautious for a while." Tony heard a third voice. Wait, he knew her. How did he know her again?

Slowly sliding his eyes open, Tony blinked against the harsh lights beating down directly on him. His vision cleared and everything came back to him.

 _Oh yeah._ He thought. _Banner and Shuri were playing Operation with my body._ It explained why his throat and side hurt so badly.

"Hey."

Tony turned his gaze up to Pepper who was now looking down at him, a hand in his hair and another on his shoulder.

"Oh, here," she said.

Pepper gently removed the towel from his mouth. It hurt to move his jaw back into place and his mouth was dry as hell, but it felt good to feel his tongue again. Tony moved his jaw around a bit before attempting to speak.

"P-p-piece of cake." He stuttered. Stark was trembling pretty badly, no matter how hard he tried to stop. His heart was nearly beating out of his chest and there was a pit in his stomach threatening to send whatever little he had to eat that day back up. "F.R.I.D.A.Y-"

Luckily, his AI knew what he meant and released the restraints around him. Tony finally fully relaxed, taking a moment to close his eyes, breath, and enjoy the feeling of Pepper smoothing his hair back from his face. He was far from recovered though. In fact, Tony could almost hear his own screams still echoing in his head.

"Those pain meds should start kicking in." Bruce informed him, referring to the pills he had Tony take before the surgery started. They knew it wouldn't do anything for him in those God-awful, gruesome minutes where it really counted, but it'd at least take the edge off after the fact. "I'll take all of the Vicodin with us. Meanwhile, we need to find some way to transport you to the jet. I don't want you walking just quite yet."

Tony was beginning to protest when a deafening blast accompanied by a burst of energy disrupted the lab. Stark found enough strength within him to push himself up on one elbow so that he could turn his head to see what was going on. The entire wall of the med lab had been reduced to rubble, wall chunks and glass everywhere. Again with all the glass. Tony made a mental note to use less glass next time he built a compound meant to house super-beings.

"Come on..." Banner was muttering, even now still trying to bring out the big guy but to no avail. Pepper gripped Tony's wrist tightly, moving her body closer to his. Shuri suddenly had some weird blaster-looking thing over her hand. There was something wrong- it was too quiet out there, especially for a fight with Thanos. Tony hoped with all his might that the worst hadn't happened to his team.

"It really isn't anything personal." A sickeningly familiar voice rumbled from out of sight. Tony felt pure anger fuel inside of him. It was a fraction of a second before his suit was closing around his arms. He moved to stand so that he could fully suit up, but Pepper pushed him back onto the table. He met her eyes with his.

"Don't. You. Dare." She accentuated. Before Tony could argue her, he heard electronic bursts from beside his head and could see Shuri firing whatever weapon she wielded. Tony felt fear grip him as he turned once again, seeing none other than the ugly, purple son of a bitch stomping slowly towards the med bay. With a flick of his gloved hand (which was looking worse for wear, by the way), Shuri was knocked aside into the wall with a purple stream of light. She slid to the floor and barely stirred.

Tony knew he technically wasn't fit to be thrown into a battle right now, but Thanos was leaving him no choice. With Hulk M.I.A, they didn't have much to go with and he'd be damned if he let Thanos even _acknowledge_ Pepper.

"Just need to clean the remaining scum off the streets to ensure a... _safer_ universe." Thanos continued, keeping consistent with his genocidal tendencies. Tony gritted his teeth and couldn't help but think of Peter. The kid falling into Tony's arms, begging not die, not to go. Thanos ripped Peter's life from him. He ripped Peter from Tony. He ripped half of the universe away without a second glance.

Stark went to shove himself off the table, thinking he could go fast enough that Pepper wouldn't even realize until it was too late. Man, was he wrong. Tony's chest connected with her hand that was uncharacteristically strong and unwavering. Tony grunted and had to grip the edge of the table to steady himself.

"Sit. Down." She demanded. Tony turned to look at her but was instantly caught off guard. Her eyes... they were _glowing_. He had seen Pepper mad, but this was certainly a new level. Knowing full well that there obviously had to be some explanation, Tony remembered the extremis. But that had been years ago! He had cured it... hadn't he?

Apparently not.

Tony watched completely dumbfounded as his fiance's arm burned a gleaming red-orange as if lava coursed through her veins. She grabbed a bottle of something off the bottom shelf of the surgical tray next to the operating table and crushed it in her fiery hand in one, effortless squeeze. Rubbing alcohol. Wow, was she fast to think of that.

The alcohol erupted into flames just as Pepper whipped it across the room towards the Titan, the flames looking as if they engulfed his face. Of course when they subsided, it was revealed that the make-shift fireball didn't actually do much damage, but that didn't seem to be what Pep was going for anyway. The distraction had given her enough time to get to a tall metal shelf held up by four long poles running nearly from the floor to the ceiling.

Pepper tore a supporting pole clean off from the shelf. Tony watched as Thanos held his gloved hand out towards her, a nasty snarl on his face. Stark began to push himself up to help, but deep in his mind, he knew that he'd be too late. It appeared not to make a difference though, as Pepper had already heated the long metal rod in her hand so that it glowed like she did. In one go, the end of the pole was shoved straight into Thanos's abdomen- not far from where Tony had been stabbed by Thanos earlier. Poetic justice, he supposed.

Stark stumbled to his feet to help, but for what felt like the billionth time that day, his weight gave out immediately. Tony grabbed the table before he could fully go down, using whatever remnants of arm strength he had left to push himself back up to stand. His whole body was shaking, especially his legs. Tony's head spun and for a second, and he was sure he'd do the technicolor yawn right there, but he took a few deep breaths and regained some stability in his stomach. During this time, Shuri who had regained consciousness leaped forward and used her 'blaster-fists' to sock Thanos right in his pain-disoriented face. Usually, the blow probably wouldn't have done much, but with a hot fire rod stuck in his torso, it was enough to knock him on his back. Thanos screamed in anger and anguish, looking down at the pole protruding from his body.

"Time to go," Bruce said, rushing to Tony's side so that he could wrap an arm around his shoulders. Pepper hurried over to his other side, doing the same but seeming to forget she was a freaking volcano at the moment.

"Ow, you mind cooling it, Heat Miser?" Tony complained, mostly to tease her. Pepper looked down at her arms and instantly, the extremis started to fade as if it was never there.

Tony didn't really know what to think about the whole ordeal. Well, he did know that he didn't like any trace of extremis anywhere near Pepper, much less inside of her. Stark just didn't understand- he and Banner worked on the cure together and it was easy enough. It took maybe a few days and then boom, Pepper was right as rain again. He even checked her out and ran every test he knew to run, coming up empty and concluding that the demon serum was rid of. Did she know all this time? Why wouldn't she say something? And how has she been able to hide it until now? She could've imploded at any second! She knew how fragile the serum was, why risk it?

Tony couldn't _really_ find it in himself to be angry. He just found out she was alive, right? Count your blessings. He wasn't mad.

Well, maybe a TEENY bit.

By the time Stark realized he was in fact a bit bitter about the whole thing, they had all got out of the compound and were met with the open hatch of a particularly large quinjet. Tony didn't recognize it as one of his own, but didn't mind all too much. If it got them the hell out of there, it could be the Millenniumnium freaking Falcon for all he cared. Actually, that'd be pretty cool.

"What the hell happened?" Bruce asked as the rest of the team loaded into the jet looking worn and irritable.

"He had us all strangled up against the walls by purple... sorcery," Okoye said, rubbing her neck as if she could still feel it.

"It appears that the Space and Power stones are the only stones that remain functioning within the gauntlet." Thor observed.

"That thing has seen better days." Natasha chimed in.

"Tony? How're you feeling?" Rhodey brought everyone's attention to Tony who was sitting on the couch, completely zoned out. He perked up at the mention of his name.

"Yeah, yeah. Stellar. Never been better," he brushed him off. Honestly, the meds were truly starting to kick in. There was still a pretty noticeable ache in his side, but nothing he hadn't dealt with countless times before. The Avengers continued to talk about Thanos, most of the chatter involving how badly each one of them wanted to pummel his face in right then and there. Tony didn't really listen. He just looked down at his trembling hands, trying to focus all of his energy on getting them to stop.

Stark was also aware of Pepper watching him intently from where she sat beside him as if she was afraid interacting would set him off somehow. Tony kept going through the sequence of events starting with when she acquired the extremis to now, still trying to understand how the hell he missed this. He shook his head and frowned, at a total loss.

"What the fuck..." he muttered underneath his breath, then truly realized how messed up this was. "What the fuck?" He said a lot louder now, straightening and looking forward to no one, getting more worked up.

"Okay. Okay." Pepper tried to calm him. "I know-"

"I- But- Okay, _how_ first of all." Pepper opened her mouth to answer but he cut her off. "And then, if you wouldn't mind," Tony added sarcastically. ", answering why on God's green Earth you wouldn't tell me-"

"Tony." Pepper warned, stealing a glance at the rest of the team that was now turning their attention to his growing outburst. He barely even noticed and if he did, he didn't give a damn. This day just proved to be more and more out of Tony's control the longer it went on, and he was starting to become unglued because of it.

"So much for no more surprises."

"I'd call you suddenly flying off in an alien spaceship _quite_ surprising."

" _Boom_ Your girlfriend blew up due to spontaneous combustion and a freak-gene fire. Surprise!" Tony mocked, pacing now and rubbing his face in frustration. He had a sudden realization and gasped, swinging around and pointing at her. "That time your pillow was singed! You said your light caught on fire! I _knew_ that was weird!"

Pepper just looked at him, unamused.

"I think you're being just a _little_ dramatic, don't you think?"

"You could've died at any second! You know the serum is unstable!"

"But you stabilized it!"

With her last retort, Tony realized a glow was slowly making its way through her hands and up her arms.

"Woah, woah, okay..." Steve said, stepping forward and holding his hand out towards Pepper. She took an audible deep breath and looked down at her arms, the glow fading.

"Just when this day couldn't have possibly gotten anymore fucked up," Tony muttered, more to himself than anyone. "And another thing," he spoke up, turning his gaze up to look from Avenger to Avenger. ", who the hell is flying this thing and where are we going?"

As Tony asked this, he walked over to the cockpit.

"Tony, hold on-" Pepper called out, but he ignored her. He swung open the door.

"Uh, pay no attention to the man behind the curtain!" A voice inside said- a distinctively recognizable, gut-punching, _impossible_ voice. Tony froze completely. He was staring at Phil Coulson. His long-dead friend looked up at him from the pilot's seat, wincing apologetically. Tony sighed and turned to the large crowd of superheroes watching him expectantly from the quinjet's "living space" where they couldn't see what Tony just saw. Stark just looked at them tiredly.

"I'm going to lie down." He announced plainly, making it clear that he was done. He just needed some space before he completely cracked up. The Avengers looked at him, confused and probably curious to know what Stark had just seen. As Tony walked away down a narrow hallway towards what he hoped were bedrooms, Thor stepped forward to take a look at the cockpit for himself. Tony found a small room with a plain bed next to a window. Best of all, it was isolated in the back and had a door that could close everything out. Tony did just that, shutting the hatch just in time to cut off the last of Thor's string of astonished, Asgardian "swear" phrases.

Tony grimaced as he lowered himself onto the bed, carefully maneuvering himself onto his back. An uproar of voices sounded from outside his door. So at least he wasn't imagining seeing the man who died six years ago; the man whose lifeless corpse was clearly visible on the stretcher as Tony had watched him be wheeled away. He didn't even want to try to wrap his mind around that one. Apparently, his friends had other plans:

"I _saw_ you."

"-right through the heart!"

"Was this Fury?"

"What kind of sick reason could you _possibly_ -"

"-six years!"

"Where the hell have you been?"

"WHO ARE YOU?"

Tony snorted, amused. That last one was the raccoon.

He sighed quietly and turned his eyes to the small porthole-sized window where he watched the floor clouds underneath them fly by. Tony had flown countless times in his life, the scenery sometimes growing boring when he'd be jetted off from one place after another. Sometimes he did appreciate it all over again though, like the first time he flew with his Mom when they went to meet his Dad in Barbados for Christmas. Tony thought he must've been five.

Now, looking out the window at the skies, it felt different. Everything was drastically changed. It made him sad to see such a beautiful landscape. Maybe it just reminded him of how ugly life was now. Maybe it reminded him that Peter couldn't be there to see it... nor Wanda... Vision... Sam...

Tony heard the soft sound of the bedroom door clicking open. He didn't need to turn his head to know it was Pepper. He didn't mean to leave her out there in the chaos he knew was due to erupt, but if he didn't get out, he was worried panic would take over rather than his new apathy. The loud sounds of Avengers screaming over each other died down to a muffle once more as Pep closed the door again.

Without a word, she sat on the edge of the bed, facing away from him.

"I _am_ sorry." She said after a while. "I only realized it after we split up, so I never said anything. It never reaches past my arms anymore anyway, so I thought it was contained. I just-"

Tony turned to her and enclosed his arms around her waist to pull her down on the bed with him. Pepper laid on the bed on her back, her head turned towards him as he propped himself up on his side to fully face her (his good side, of course).

"I still don't get why you would keep it from me." He said, although without any traces of irritation left. He kept an arm draped over her stomach, making mindless circles with his fingertips on the skin of her hip underneath the hem of her- well, his- shirt.

"I didn't want you to take it away." She whispered up at the ceiling, avoiding meeting his eyes. Tony frowned.

"Why?"

"Because if something bad happens, you're in trouble or I'm in trouble or whatever, I hate feeling helpless."

"Pepper, you're far from helpless without that stuff in your veins."

"Not anymore. Not in this world. We would've been toast back there at the compound." She pointed out, finally turning to look at him as if to drive home her point. He couldn't really argue that.

"Thanks, by the way."

Pepper spread her lips into a very forced, unethusiastic smile and turned her eyes to the window that was now behind Tony. He watched as she seemed to get lost in it too. Tony hoped he didn't hurt her with his little outburst. He wasn't so much as mad as he was terrified that she had explosive (or previously explosive- still unclear) chemicals embedded in her body composition. If he was mad at anyone, it was himself for being too ignorant to discover it or even for not curing it in the first place.

"Hey, you think I'd look good with fins?" Tony asked, tearing her attention from the skies and back to him. She gave him a questioning smile.

"What?"

"You know, like Shark Boy and Lava Girl." Tony said as if he was dead serious, making her laugh. Tony couldn't help but break into a smile too, moving forward to meet her lips with his. It was a short and sweet kiss as if it was his apology for going a little too ham out there. Pepper raised a hand to gently brush his tousled hair from his face.

"I think you're better off sticking to Iron Man."


	6. Behind the Wall of Sleep

**A/N: I can't thank everyone who reviewed enough! I love hearing from everyone. Let me know what you think!**

"Then… I don't know, they were just gone."

The Avengers and company went quiet, but everyone could feel the environment heavy with solemn, silent apologies. Clint bowed his head and sniffed, turning away from his teammates… or, _ex_ -teammates? Tony had a hard time following his whole retirement, out-of-retirement, back to retirement deal.

Not having anywhere else to turn to, everyone in the quinjet or the "Zephyr" as Phil was very persistent in labeling it, decided on Barton's farm. It wasn't like they were showing up uninvited. Clint had apparently called Natasha when they had returned to the compound earlier, understandably upset that his wife and kids had suddenly disintegrated before his eyes. He wanted to see the team immediately.

It wasn't all hugs and kumbaya when they arrived though. Not at first. The archer was still _pretty_ pissed with Tony about the whole being locked up in a federal prison thing (some people never let go, sheesh) and was still wrapped in his own grief so naturally, as most people do, he took it out on Stark. Tony let him do his thing though- let him make snarky comments, toss around accusations, hold grudges… Stark knew this game though. Clint was hurting and he was lashing out at whatever was in front of him.

Eventually, after a good deal of Tony and Steve talking him down back to reason, Barton broke down and told them the whole story. His youngest daughter was the first to go while asleep on her Dad's shoulder. Then Laura. Then the eldest daughter who went while still screaming over watching her little sister and mother die before her eyes. Then Clint waited and waited for his turn, not knowing what the hell just happened but just wanting to go wherever they went; to stay with them whether that meant life or dust. He didn't fade though, and here he was.

"I thought… I don't know, I thought you guys would have a plan. Something... just _something_ to go off of." Clint stumbled around his words, head in his hands. They all sat around his kitchen table. It looked quite ridiculous just when the six original Avengers stood in the quaint Barton household, but now with such a large group of them plus Pepper and Phil and whatnot, there was barely any elbow room.

"We're looking at things we can't even begin to understand," Bruce said from the other end of the table. "I mean we know next to nothing about the infinity stones each as separate entities, but the power of them all together? It would take lifetimes to underst-"

"See, but that's not good enough! We have to be better. We're the damn Avengers, for God's sake. We protect the world. And if we can't?"

"We Avenge them." Thor finished, but without an ounce of enthusiasm. Stark had noticed that the God of Thunder was looking a little put out lately. He didn't really have any idea of where the hell his friend has been for the past few years. Whatever happened, it seemed to take a toll.

"Right." Barton said, slamming his hand on the table and pointing to Thor to agree. "Captain?" Clint prompted, looking to Steve for back-up. Rogers perked up from his tired daze and gave Barton a guilty look.

"This is a little out of my realm, even in the literal sense."

"Alright, then Thor? Come on, you probably know more than all of us combined. There's got to be a way to undo all this shit."

Thor sighed and slowly shrugged, seeming to rack his brain for something to satisfy Clint.

"I am sorry, my friend. I just don't know that it's po-"

" _Don't._ Don't say it's not possible. THE Agent Phil freaking Coulson is standing in my kitchen right now. Possible doesn't mean shit these days."

"Clint-" Natasha tried, but everyone knew how stubborn he could be.

"No, no. Half the world disappears and you're telling me the Avengers just accept it?"

"We still have work to do. Thanos is still out there and we have half the universe to protect." Okoye pointed out.

"But screw the other half, right? Jigs up for them! Oh well!" Hawkeye retorted, thick with sarcasm. Geez, did Tony sound like this went he went off on his own snide rants? Tony took this time to notice the blinking screen on one of the cell phones he grabbed from the compound. With all things considered, he hadn't exactly been tracking his missed calls but it appeared that he had gotten 18 in the past few hours… May. _Peter's_ May. Shit.

Tony was hit with painful sinking feeling in his chest. This was going to be the hardest phone call he's ever had to make.

"Stark!" he heard his name called. Tony looked up to Barton's along with every other pair of eyes staring at him expectantly.

"Yes, sorry. What's up?"

"You're strangely quiet. You've got to help me out, man. These people are crazy. You're with me on this, right?"

"I'm sorry, a minute ago according to you I was like… Hades and Lucifer had a love child-

Tony noticed Barton's expression and laid off a bit. He sighed and stood, pushing his way through what seemed like a suffocating sea of heroes and spies and what-have-you. He made his way to the adjoining living room where a playpen sat next to the sofa. A "little Barton" stared up at him through big blue eyes. Tony half expected the kid to pop out of the womb with a six pack and a sheath of arrows attached to its back. It was cute though, for a baby. Babies were just kind of lumpy potatoes with faces as Stark always said (which never made the mothers very happy). This one, in particular, had something different though with his idiotic, happy little grin on his face. Maybe it was its naïve innocence to the world it now lived in. Tony was jealous of the kid.

"Maybe…" he said, back turned to the gang of people watching his every move as if what he said actually determined shit. Tony sighed and tilted his head back and forth, weighing his options in his mind. He looked down at his phone again; that blinking message light might as well have been screaming at him. "Maybe he's right."

The room burst into chatter. Tony's eyes found Pepper's across the room. She gave him a small, admiring smile. He shrugged one shoulder as if to say, "why not" and she smiled a little wider.

"Okay, but think about it." Clint yelled over everyone until they quieted. "If this infinity mitten-"

"Gauntlet." Rocket corrected from… somewhere. That thing was so short, Tony couldn't quite find where his voice was coming from.

"Whatever. If this 'gauntlet' had the power to wipe out everyone with the snap of Thanos's fingers then who's to say it can't undo this shit show?"

"It's going to be difficult. We failed to defeat Thanos before and that was fully staffed." Rhody noted.

"Not to mention, we're already being hunted as we speak." Natasha chimed in. Banner looked at her with a sad smile. She mirrored his expression but then the sad smile turned suggestive and _ugh_ , did no one else see this but Tony?

"Ugh, geez. What is it about Barton's farm that gets you guys hot to trot?"

Banner shot Tony the death glare and for a moment, he was glad that the Hulk had been getting recent stage fright. Stark tried to resist the urge to laugh by turning away to look at the rest of the people murmuring to one another in the kitchen. Boy, what a group they were. Tony tried to run through names in his head. Steve, Bruce, Clint, Thor, Natasha, Rhodey, Pepper, Coulson, random agent with Coulson introduced as "Mack", Okoye, M'Baku, Shuri, Rocket…

 _And ah yes, Baby Barton_. Tony concluded, giving the one-year-old a small wave. Apart from the kid, everyone looked like they were on their last legs. Steve was quiet, observing the room as well. His eyes found Tony's. Rogers gave him a small nod of approval. Tony felt better about their chances against Thanos with Cap finally on his side, or vice versa; it didn't really matter. The whole mess of the world was still constantly eating at Stark's insides, but something about being back on the dinky little farm with the original 6 Avengers back together again was comforting and motivating.

"Barton." Tony called over the low chatter. "Mind if you host a kind of Island of Misfits B&B while we figure some stuff out? Maybe we start fresh on all this tomorrow?" Clint tiredly nodded in response, standing.

"Whatever it takes; however long it takes."

"That's the spirit." Tony said, adding, "Honeymoon suite for those two."

It earned him a flying shoe in the head from Natasha, but it was worth it.

Barton went on to explain all the sleeping arrangements that he could make possible for everyone. Tony admittedly tuned out though, because he had to put that begging light on his phone to rest before he had another panic attack just thinking of having to say the words out loud to May. Voicing it to _anyone_ , even if it was just himself was going to take a toll. Tony hadn't even said Peter's name since it happened.

 _Maybe this isn't the end._ He thought, trying to keep their newfound hope in mind. He repeated this as he walked out onto the porch, phone in hand. _This isn't the end, this isn't the end…_

* * *

There was no concept of time here. That, Peter could confidently say. Now say to whom, he did not know. He couldn't even see himself, not to mention anyone else. By that, he meant he didn't feel or see his limbs. He couldn't even feel himself blink. There was just darkness and sometimes images and random abstraction of colors. It was like Peter was swimming inside his own mind without a body; inside a dream.

Was this death? This is all after-life had to offer? Peter never liked going to church. He was always told to sit still and not ask so many questions as a kid when they'd go. After his parents died, he didn't keep up with religion the way his Mom probably would've wanted. Somewhere deep in Peter's mind though, he believed there was _something_ waiting on the other side.

But this? This _sucked_.

What made it worse was that Peter faded in and out of different levels of consciousness and subconsciousness. Most times, he'd remember who he was. He was Peter Parker, nearly 16, lived in Queens, and most importantly, he was Spider-Man. Most times he wouldn't however, remember how he got there or where he was or what had happened. It took a lot of effort to remember Thanos or going to space or his last few breaths before turning to dust. Memories would come in go in fleeting wisps that he didn't have control over. Peter would try to grab the memories and hold on but he'd get lost in a stream of different thoughts and kind of just zone out.

He could think about anything. From the taste of his favorite ice cream (Cookie Dough from Ben and Jerry's, obviously) to the feeling of his mother brushing back his hair and kissing his forehead. He heard their voices a lot, actually. Of course, he had old home videos and memories back when he was living, but nothing was as vivid as this. He felt like they were right there in front of them, but there was nothing; just darkness.

This was the most frustrating part for Peter. Everything felt like it was _nearly_ in his grasp but he had no way of getting to it. His parents, the feeling of his body moving, memories of what happened on the alien planet, Tony…

Peter would've preferred non-existence next to this torturous limbo.

His favorite thoughts were of certain people.

Thinking of May made him feel warm and comforted inside. Sometimes terribly sad, but mostly safe.

Thinking of Ned made happy and want to laugh as small fragments of memories of their best times together danced around him.

Best of all, thinking of Mr. Stark gave him _hope_. In Peter's most conscious states, he remembered awful things: Mr. Stark being stabbed, Dr. Strange giving up the stone, Thanos winning, that sickening, painful feeling of what Mr. Stark called his "spidey-senses" screaming in protest as he turned to ash. But these memories at least gave him a sense of thought-direction. He wasn't just floating aimlessly in his own thoughts like most of the time.

Even though these conscious moments made him want to hyperventilate or curl up and scream or sob (as if he could even do those things anymore), Peter held onto them.

 _Mr. Stark is coming for me._

Coming where, he wasn't sure. Peter knew he was grasping for straws, but Mr. Stark always pulled through for him. What he would give to see him right now.

 _This isn't it, Peter._ He assured himself. _This isn't the end._

The darkness seeped into his mind again and his train of thought blew away until he nearly forgot his identity. No matter how long it took though, he'd always come back to it.

 _This isn't the end, this isn't the end…_

* * *

The entirety of the small guest room was illuminated by the blue light of holograms. Tony had them cast everywhere, projected from the small piece of the Iron Man suit he had "nano-ed" onto his wrist for the time being. Tony gritted his teeth and willed himself to stop looking at the damn projections. He knew this was a bad idea.

"F.R.I.D.A.Y." he had summoned.

"Yes, boss?"

"Cue up Karen's baby monitor protocol logs."

Tony didn't know what he thought he'd accomplish by looking through Peter's suit recordings. The first video that had come up through the shuffle of events was of the kid webbing some teenage brute who was hassling a smaller kid on the street.

"Hey, pick on someone your own size!" He called out. Then swinging out, "Oh man, that was cheesy. Was that cheesy, Karen? I don't care; I've always wanted to say it. You're probably not even a real super hero unless you say it."

This all well the city of Queens bobbed up and down, in and out of view below him as he swung from rooftop to rooftop. Tony kind of chuckled, but it came out more of a sad choking noise. The kid was ridiculous, but you had to admit, he was a hoot.

There were lots of videos of him and that kid Ned just hanging out in his room building Legos and playing video games and stuff. There were even a few _of_ Peter where Ned was wearing the mask. If he had discovered this earlier, Tony would've reminded the kid that the suit wasn't a toy to use as a party trick in front of his friends. Now, Stark just kept thinking that he had consistently been too hard on him. It was too late for such realizations now though.

"I am Thor, Son of Odin!" Peter's voice rang through the room. Tony rolled his eyes and smirked, a lump in his throat building up all the while.

"Captain Rogers, at your service. Yes. America."

Peter went on to mimic the people he probably grew up watching on the News. Hulk, Hawkeye, even Nat until…

Peter stood there silently at the mirror, the comedic energy he previously had, gone. His arm was fully extended in front of him, his palm open to the mirror; just like Tony and his repulsors. Peter stood there for a moment, not saying a word. He stared at himself and slowly lowered his arm.

"What's wrong?" Tony heard Karen's voice. Tony was desperately thinking the same thing.

"No, no, nothing. It's just stupid, I don't know. I could never be like Mr. Stark."

"How do you mean?" Karen asked.

Tony didn't know where this was going, but for some reason, he felt like he _needed_ to know. He froze, completely invested in Peter's video.

"He kinda just always knows what to do, ya know?"

Not true.

"And when he does it, it's all heroic and stuff."

Tony closed his eyes and tried to push the bulge in his throat down. Did he know what to do when it came to Thanos? Was he "all heroic and stuff" then? He let the kid down, big time.

"Also, he's a billionaire. Probably won't get there anytime soon." Peter joked, finished with a light laugh at the end. Then, more serious, "I just _really_ don't want to disappoint him."

"Next." Tony interrupted, halting the video and switching to the next randomized bit. Titan was suddenly projected across the room. Just seeing the damned barren landscapes made Tony's insides twist. This was where they lost. This is where Peter died.

Not yet though. Not in the video. Tony was about to change the video feed until he heard his own gasp. Through Peter's eyes, he watched himself get stabbed by Thanos. In the video, Stark could hear Peter cry out. He hadn't even noticed on Titan.

That wasn't the only scream that sounded though. _Of course_ , Pepper walks into the room now.

"Oh my God!" she shrieked, covering her eyes in the doorway.

"Sorry, sorry," Tony hurriedly apologized, swiping his hand through the air to move to the next video clip. Pepper still stood there, her face buried in her hands. "Babe, it's fine. I'm fine. Come here." He beckoned to her, holding out his hand for her to join him sitting on the edge of the bed. Pepper reluctantly accepted.

A new clip was on. Peter swinging through Queens once more, quietly singing to himself.

"Spider-man, spider-man…" He mumble-sang to himself. "Does whatever… Um… a spider does. No, can! Does whatever a spider can. Heyyyy, not bad. Right, Karen?"

"You're very talented."

Tony could feel Pepper's eyes on him, but his own were cast downwards, away from her and away from the screen. He bit his lip and took a deep breath, trying to do anything to relieve the burning in his chest and throat just pleading him to let the tears start.

"Tony," she gently said to him. "Why are you doing this to yourself?"

Stark never actually told Pepper about Peter dying. He knew she could take a hint though. Tony and Peter went up to space and only Stark returned. She never said anything about it, and neither did he. Tony guessed he wasn't quite ready to talk about it anyway.

"I just… I had to call May which, God I've never heard heartbreak so hard over the phone. Anyway, it got me thinking. I wanted to see if the dusting affected remnants of the people affected."

"Like… you thought the memories of them would be gone too?"

"Just curious. But all his logs are still intact and then… I just kept watching."

Pepper looked at him sadly and put a light hand on the Iron Man part enclosed around his wrist. The projections stopped and Tony retracted the suit back to free his arm again. Pepper took no time to run her fingertips up his arms until she was pulling him into her. Tony let himself sink into her chest, his head on her shoulder, his face buried in her hair. Pepper used one hand to push her fingers through his hair and the other gently made circles with her nails on his back.

Something about her always broke his walls down, but in this case, it wasn't necessarily a good thing. He felt every emotion that he had been putting on hold since Peter's death hit him like a ton of bricks. Tony's breath got caught in his throat and tears finally spilled down his face. He took a stuttering breath and exhaled into Pepper's hair, squeezing his eyes shut and just taking a minute to be in grief.

They didn't say anything; they didn't really need to. Tony and Pepper were at the point where there _could_ be tons said in moments like these; Tony's guilt, the look on the kid's face, his last words, Tony's deeper rage against Thanos… Pepper knew though. They knew each other enough to not need words.

After at least a good ten minutes as Tony was pretty close to drifting off right on Pep's shoulder, she stirred. Pepper kissed the top of his head and rubbed his back.

"You smell like sweat." She stated plainly. Tony couldn't find the strength to even open his mouth with a sassy retort; it just came out a slurred grumble. "Hopefully your team didn't use all the hot water."

* * *

Pepper gently took the hem of Tony's shirt to slide it up his torso and above his head, tousling his hair into a mess. The new arch reactor was the only light in the dark guest room, it's illumination reaching most of its surroundings. She took a moment to lightly run her fingertips across it's glassy surface. She watched her fiancé's chest rise and fall slowly before her and she couldn't help but be overwhelmed with relief that he was still breathing there with her. Pepper pressed her forehead against his and watched him close his eyes, leaning into her touch. She continued to watch the light in his chest glow between them. She wasn't happy about it being back at first, remembering how his old reactors just made her think of the constant possibility of his death. But now, it was like a symbol for the opposite. It meant he was still living.

Eventually, they finished undressing each other, although they took their sweet time. Pepper could tell that Tony was barely standing from exhaustion, and she had to guide him most of the way to the bathroom. His eyes remained closed most of the time, Tony relying on her to take the lead.

Thank God, there was, in fact, hot water left. It was best a hot shower that Pepper had ever felt in her life. She had her back to the shower head and Tony faced her from the front, his forehead lightly resting against hers as the water cascaded through his hair and down his face. He was so still, his arms resting lightly on her hip bones. If he wasn't still standing, Pepper would've been sure he was asleep.

Keeping a hand on the side of his neck, she cautiously touched her fingers to his abdomen where Bruce had used him and Tony's artificial skin regeneration to close up his wound for good. There really wasn't too much of a difference, but if Pepper looked close enough, she could see where his real skin began and ended. She was sure it was just because she knew nearly every inch of his abdomen by now though.

The image of Tony being stabbed through the gut flitted across her mind again. Imagining it was one thing, but walking in and seeing the actual video of it was horrifying. The blade went straight through him. He shouldn't have walked out of there alive.

Tony groaned, startling her out of her thoughts. He moved his head to rest on her shoulder instead, face in the curve where her neck met her shoulder. Pepper smiled a bit, kissing his wet hair and gently running her nails along the nape of his neck.

This was completely uncommon- Tony becoming a dead weight for her to take care of in the shower. It became a sort of pattern after rough missions he'd come home from. Tony would be exhausted but dirty, sweaty and bloody so Pepper would make sure she showered with him to make sure he didn't collapse right then and there. She didn't mind in the slightest. When it came to Iron Man and whatever dangers came with it, she often felt more helpless than she'd like. He'd constantly be risking himself to protect them and other people, the least she could do was take care of him when he got back. This time was a little different though. This time, they were weighted down with the added toll of loss.

It took them a good twenty minutes get washed up. Most of it was just standing there, relishing the moment of being together. She'd make circles with her fingertips across his back or he'd plant light, tired kissing on her neck and so on. The only thing he really perked up to do was condition her hair. He always _insisted_ he did this. Pepper never asked why. She assumed he liked the feeling of her hair smoothed out under the water. She loved it anyway and he was always so gentle, playing and running his fingers through her hair.

Finally, when all was said and done, Pepper turned off the water. Tony was resting on her shoulder again, unmoving. She carefully reached out of the shower to grab a towel to wrap around him, moving to grab one for herself too. Tony gripped his towel and tightened it around himself, shivering into her skin.

"Come on, Iron Man." She teased him, guiding him back to the bedroom where it was quite the process to simply get dressed again. Clint had given Tony some of his clothes, and Coulson offered Pepper clothes from a female agent that used to live on the Zephyr (she'd feel a little weird wearing Laura's clothes under the circumstances).

What felt like an eternity later, Pepper got a barely conscious Tony under the covers. He rolled on his side facing the empty half of the bed, waiting for her to join him. She watched him for a second before doing so, taking note of his mess of damp hair, his slightly open mouth and rising chest as he breathed, the shadows that played across his arms accentuating his muscles… Pepper felt her chest warm, loving the fact that he was back at her side, safe and admittedly adorable as ever.

Her chest continued to feel warmer and warmer though, and then her arms…

"Shoot." She muttered, looking down at the dull glow that was spreading through her. It felt like the damn extremis had been more active today than it had in the past couple years combined. She guessed it was the stress. Taking a deep breath and focusing, Pepper got it to die down before sliding into bed next to her fiancé.

Tony almost automatically wrapped an arm around her waist and slid her back so that his chest was against her back. He tightened his embrace and nuzzled his face into her shoulder from behind.

"My little hot pocket." He teased, tired. Pepper scoffed and rolled her eyes. The nicknames would never stop now. So far, it has ranged from St. Elmo to Charmander and everything in between.

"Go to sleep." She said although it didn't seem she needed to. In seconds, he was already out, and she went with him.


	7. Children of the Grave

**A/N: So nothing really eventful happens in this chapter, but if you need the six original Avengers having some much-needed family bonding time, read on and enjoy!**

Tony made his way across the uneven, grass-covered ground underneath a blanket of stars. He left the small farmhouse behind, eyeing the small blaze of light that must've been a campfire out in the middle of Barton's front yard. The only person Tony could actually make out was Barton himself who was throwing more wood onto the fire. There were others seated around the flames, but they were just silhouettes until Tony got closer. He came to find Natasha, Bruce, Thor and Coulson sitting on lawn chairs facing the fire in a pretty tight circle. Stark approached with his arms crossed close to his body for warmth, Clint's t-shirt and pajama pants not quite adequate against the chill of the late night air.

"Heyyyy! There he is. We were just talking about you." Hawkeye said, clapping a hand on Tony's shoulder.

"Fantastic." Tony joked sarcastically.

"Actually, it was more about your suit so don't flatter yourself." Natasha smiled cheekily at him.

"You know I'll always flatter myself, Romanoff."

Barton had already set up a lawn chair for him by this time. Tony thanked him and joined his friends, immediately relaxing underneath the heat of the fire.

"Couldn't sleep?" Bruce asked, smirking up at Tony.

"Ah," Tony dismissed, shrugging his shoulders. "Unless Barton fancies using manure-scented air fresheners, it's the smell of the country that I'm not quite acclimated to yet."

Everyone around the campfire chuckled but cast their eyes away from each other, smiles soon fading. It was because they knew Tony was joking and that wasn't the real reason he was out here. That wasn't the real reason any of them were out there. The world had just perished on their watch, their friends with it, and it wasn't something that was easy to sleep on. For Tony, it meant nightmares. Terrible nightmares; most of them having to do with a dorky, hyper, web-slinging kid...

Tony saw another figure approaching out of the corner of his eye. He turned to see the dim features of Rogers approach them.

"Cap! Join the party." Tony beckoned, waving him over. Steve approached wearing a tee and sweatpants that were just a bit too long for him, courtesy of that Agent Mack guy from the Zephyr. He smiled tiredly and thanked Clint who rushed to get him a seat. Barton also returned with two beers for Steve and Tony from the cooler which they both gratefully accepted.

"So what were we talking about?" Steve asked, taking a sip of beer.

"Me! Apparently. But what's new? Carry on." Tony mused, waiting for his friends to elaborate.

"I was just admiring how far your upgrades have come." Coulson explained, giving Tony that eerily nostalgic small smile and tip of the head. Tony raised his eyebrows and cracked open his drink.

"Yeah, a lot can happen when you're playing Amy Elliot Dunne for six years."

"I checked in on you all periodically through S.H.I.E.L.D's databases."

"Oh, great, okay. But never thought of maybe dropping by?"

"Believe it or not, I've been busy."

"Well... You missed a great funeral." Tony said, trying not to put too much of a bitter aftertaste to his words. He was a little upset- how messed up is that to make all of your friends believe that you died? But Tony was mostly just happy to see him and quite frankly, was too tired to be too much of an ass at that moment.

"I heard. Stark, if you want me to formally apologize-"

"Oh no, I don't need one. I get it. We were being a handful; needed motivation to officially form the happy family. But my fiancee, who I had to come home and tell that Phil Coulson had been unexpectantly run through with a magic pointy stick, had nothing to-"

"Congratulations, by the way." Coulson calmly interrupted. Tony debated with himself on whether or not hassle Phil for hurting Pepper. That is why he was mainly angry, but at this point, it wasn't really worth it. Stark relaxed in his chair.

"Thanks. I would've sent invites, to all of you, I might add, but I had trouble finding an address for the dead, outlaw country and space." Tony finished, nodding his head to each person as it applied. It was quiet for a bit, the only sounds were the chirping crickets and the crackle of the fire.

"Well, we're here now," Cap said, the everlasting voice of optimism. "And after we fix all of this-"

"We'll have one hell of a bachelor party." Tony finished for him, turning amused eyes to meet Steve's. A half-smile spread across Cap's face as he looked down. Turning his eyes back to Tony, he nodded.

"We'll have one hell of a bachelor party."

Everyone erupted into cheers of excited agreement, beers raised towards the fire. Tony pointed at Cap.

"I'm holding that to ya, Rogers."

Steve raised his beer towards Tony and took a sip which was an answer satisfying enough.

"So Phil..." Natasha piped up, leaning intently forward as if about to tell him a secret. "What've you been up to for six years?"

Turns out, Coulson has been up to quite a lot. They found out S.H.I.E.L.D. still exists as an underground organization which was really the last thing they needed, in Tony's opinion, but he guessed times were simpler with S.H.I.E.L.D. anyway. At least it felt like they had back-up. Phil had his own team now too, most of which were dusted away. His arm was cybertronic. He's been to space. He's been to...

"Tahiti?" Barton asked, his face twisted in confusion.

"It's a magical place." Coulson slyly commented, as if there was a much more elaborate discussion that he was choosing not to have on the matter. "But enough about me. Seems like you all have been busy. Last I heard, Mom and Dad were fighting. Glad to see my death worked." Coulson remarked sarcastically, looking from Tony to Steve. Stark cleared his throat awkwardly and hid behind his beer that he tipped back to take a drink from. Out of the corner of his eye, he swore he watched Cap shrink back a little too.

"Well, I haven't been myself for two years so I can't say I remember anything to tell you." Bruce spoke up, and off they went. In the world's weirdest session of catch-up, the Avengers went around the fire and went through their separate lives the past couple of years.

Bruce has been stuck as Hulk in an alien planet where he was a glorified champion gladiator.

"Who let this guy go first? I can't compete with that shit." Hawkeye had complained.

Bruce, or sorry, Hulk ended up facing against Thor in battle which he won... or Thor won? That was still unclear, even despite Thor's insistent commentary.

"By the way, have you ever thought of wearing pants for men, Tony?" Bruce asked, shifting in his seat uncomfortably as if still experiencing distress. Stark laughed and raised up his hands in defense.

"Not everyone can rock the mom jeans like you can." He shot right back at his friend, still enjoying the thought of his friend in the extra clothes he left in the quinjet.

It was only natural to move to Thor next, and holy hell did this guy get hit hard. He lost his Dad, his friends, his home, his hair, his eye, his brother...

"Again? Jesus, what is with you people? Dead or alive, pick one." Tony said, quickly adding, ", and condolences."

Thor smiled sadly and nodded, finishing off his seventh beer and adding the empty bottle to the pile near his feet.

"No one has to pretend they feel anything other than disdain for my brother, I understand."

Tony watched Coulson shudder from across the fire, holding his abdomen where Loki shoved his scepter through.

"Still," Rogers spoke up. "That's a lot to handle, Thor. I hope you know you always have a place here."

"I appreciate it, Captain. I would never want to burd-"

"Hey." Tony interrupted. "Don't give us that shit."

"We're a family. A fucked up, destructive, socially impaired..."

"I understand." Thor interrupted Clint. "Thank you all. And I will not give you the shit again."

Stark closed his eyes and rubbed them in disbelief. You'd think Thor would've caught onto Earth lingo a bit by now. Gotta love the guy though.

"So... Stark..."

Tony looked around at all eyes on him, waiting for a debrief on his life the past couple of years. It was strange telling the people who used to know almost everything regarding his day-to-day about his life.

"Uh, well obviously the biggie- getting hitched soon."

"Ugh, the fact that Tony found a woman who's willing to put up with him for life and I haven't had a girlfriend in fifteen years-"

"I can't help that you're taking siestas in space, bud." Tony joked back at him.

"Well you know, turning into a giant green rage monster isn't exactly a turn on either."

"That's not a hit in bed? Natasha, weigh in."

"Why now? How'd you know it was time?" Natasha asked Tony regarding the wedding, completely ignoring his question quite intentionally.

"Well, she handled all my bullshit for 8 years, 14 if you count before we were an item. I figured if she hadn't killed me yet, I was probably safe."

"We're ecstatic, Tony. Really. You know we adore Pepper." Barton voiced, back-up by murmurs and nods of agreement all around. Tony smiled a bit just at the thought of her, still sound asleep curled up under the covers inside. "Now do we understand her? Ehhhhh..."

Barton made a suspicious face that earned laughs. They never stopped giving Tony shit about that. The constant joke between them all was coming up with different excuses as to why Pepper is able to deal with Tony. The reasonings ranged from Tony developing a high-tech brainwashing machine to her being an extremely advanced one of his A.I.'s.

Tony smirked and rolled his eyes. "Anyway, I don't know, after gluing the pieces together after they fell apart for a bit, everything was feeling cohesive for the first time in a while. Rhodey was walking again, we officially moved everything upstate, and the kid..."

Tony trailed off. Everyone remained in silence, but Stark could feel a different tone take over the air around them. Tony cleared his throat.

"The kid really kept me busy. He's a handful, but I'm not one to talk."

"I think it's great. What you have with the kid, I mean." Steve spoke up, his voice dark and serious.

"I didn't realize he meant that much to you," Bruce said from across the flames. Tony nodded, keeping his eyes at a burning ember on the ground as if he could focus hard enough to make the pain in his chest to go away.

"I didn't really stop to realize it either. Something about his mind-numbing stubbornness and plucky gusto... Damn kid wraps those synthesized webs right around your heart." Tony half-joked, hiding the truth of it all behind his usual sarcastic phrasing.

A few smiles and chuckled then again; silence.

"But stop stalling, Oh Captain, my Captain," Tony said with new vibrancy in his voice to try to lighten the mood. "Where has the war-criminal life brought you and Miss Romanoff here?"

Turns out it was a mix of Wakanda, trashy hotels, mutual friends they could trust, and sometimes just plain old camping despite Sam's complaints. They had run into some opportunities for missions on the side, some small Scooby-Doo level villains to take down, but other than that they kept quiet. Moving onto Barton, he didn't say much about his life. He just mentioned that he was in full-on family mode and loving every second of it. After that, Clint choked up and couldn't say much else. The silence took over again like it did every time someone who was lost was mentioned. Coulson was the first to move, bidding everyone goodnight and leaving the circle.

Tony heard a small snicker from Natasha's direction. He looked up to see everyone exchanging glances with small, tired smiles of amusement on their face. Tony looked around. Oh. He got it. Six of them were left. Tony, Steve, Natasha, Barton, Thor, Banner... The original six- where it all started. They sat like that for a little while, no one knowing quite what to say. Everyone was probably thinking the same thing anyway- Look at how far we've come, how did we all survive this far, could we have done something differently... you name it.

Tony was about to announce that he was going to hit the hay again when his name was called.

"Stark," Natasha said, grabbing another beer.

"Hm?"

"Truth or dare?"

"Come on, Romanoff. I thought your maturity was above fifth grade. Seventh, at least."

"Funny. Truth or dare."

Everyone looked between Nat and Tony with confused but intrigued smiles on their faces, waiting for him to answer.

"Fine, but you should know I annihilate in this game. Dare."

And that's how the game started. It reminded Tony a lot of post-mission "revels" as Thor would put it. They'd go out to eat or just hang around Avengers Tower and have a drink, learn more about each other, or do stupid, juvenile stuff just like this. It wasn't all shits and giggles though. Sometimes the truths got a little more serious, but never about their recent strife. It was like the unsaid rule of the game- no talking about Thanos or the snap.

"If you could choose to be one of us, who would you choose?" Thor asked Tony at one point. "As a "super-being" that is."

"Easy, Natasha." Tony said, obviously surprising everyone who joined in a chorus of protests.

"Woah, woah, woah! What is this? Let the man pick who he wants!" Natasha yelled over everyone else, holding her hand out with a slightly inebriated smile on her face.

"Stark- are you sure?" Thor asked with a confused smile, raising his hand and summoning lightning around them.

"Put it away, Pikachu. Think about it. What "powers" does Nat have over here?"

"Other than being a bad-ass and mortally terrifying, nothing." Bruce said, pulling a small smile from Romanoff.

"Gross. No flirting, P.D.A free bonfire please." Tony joked, earning the finger from Banner. "Anyway, that's exactly my point. We're all over here with our safety blankets and she's holding her own right alongside us."

"Thank you, Tony."

It was quiet for a bit, and then, of course, more protests coming in all at once.

"Bull. Shit." Clint yelled, raising his beer in the air.

"Who are you?"

"Kiss ass."

"Alright, alright. You're all upset that you weren't smart enough to think of it." Tony said, waving them away. "Who would you guys pick then?"

Everyone looked at each other, and nearly at the same time:

"Thor!"

"Uh, lightning!"

"Thor."

"Immortality, lightning, super strength, godliness... "

"Neanderthals." Tony dismissed, rolling his eyes and smiling as he took another swig. Thor smiled smugly and summoned another lightning bolt to solidify his cavalier point.

Stark got some other good questions too. Some making him a little uncomfortable even.

"A fear we don't know about. Go." Clint challenged. He was pretty drunk at this point, but no one blamed him considering all he had been through. They all were buzzed at the very least.

"Okay... Turkeys."

"Turkeys."

"Yeah. Whose idea was it to make a shitty brown peacock and attach a nutsack to its face? Not a fan."

The night sky was filled with the sounds of the 6 Avengers' laughter. Tony chuckled and took a sip of beer before setting it down. He should probably slow down.

"Okay, okay. But what about a real fear?"

Tony sighed. Barton wasn't going to let him wiggle out of this one. He gave it a few moments, weighing his options. He had a lot of fears. Unfortunately, most of them came true and his friends already knew about them anyway. Except...

"Water."

"Really? Water?" Cap spoke up. "I feel like I've seen you in water before."

"Yeah, in the suit. I'm not deathly afraid or anything, I just- I don't know, being waterboarded wasn't too fun and neither was being crushed under my house hundreds of feet down in the Pacific. It just makes me a bit... antsy."

There were small noises of acknowledgment and some solemn nods. Tony didn't feel insecure telling these people. If anything, they were the only six people in the world other than Pepper and Rhodey who he didn't mind speaking about those things with. He was glad to have a little more fun with his next truth question though.

"Stark." Cap called on him.

"You know I love it when you say my name."

Steve snickered and rolled his eyes. "If you had the time stone, considering yesterday never happened," Cap added, "Where or what would you go back in time to?"

Tony took a deep breath and sat back, not taking long before a mischevious smile spread across his face.

"There's a show. A musical savoir-faire, if you will, that I've always wanted to see in person."

"Uh-huh... Didn't peg you as the musical type." Steve said, eyeing Tony suspiciously probably wondering what he was up to.

"Oh yeah."

"How far would you have to go back to see it?"

"The ol' 1942."

Tony had a full panoramic view of four perplexed eyes on him, smiles wide as they knew this had to be going somewhere good. Tony smirked and turned to Cap who's head dropped in his hands to hide from the world.

"Oh my God..." his muffled voice groaned into his hands.

"Let me see... Oh yes- Who's strong and brave here to save the American Way?" Tony began to sing. Natasha gasped and laughed, obviously the only other one who knew what the heck Stark was talking about.

"Who vows to fight for what's right night and day?" Tony kept going despite Roger's eyes that were now narrowed in on him dangerously. Even he couldn't keep the smile from his face though.

"Who will campaign door to door for America,

Carry the flag shore to shore for America,

From Hoboken to Spokane,"

Tony held his arms dramatically out towards Steve as if to "present" him.

", the Star Spangled Man with a plan!"

"Very nice, Stark. To be honest, I don't know if that itself is worse, or the fact that you know the song by heart."

"Well you know I am your most adoring fan, Mr. Spangled."

"Right. Howard told you about that?"

"I own the original film copies, pal. Don't worry, I won't let your hard work and go-go boots be forgotten."

Soon truth and dare faded out and it was all "remember when" from there.

"Remember when Banner showed up to Schwarma naked, wrapped in giant pants?"

"Remember when Stark's trackers malfunctioned on the hunt for Loki's scepter and led them to a sex shop in Cairo?"

"Remember when Thor attempted to drive Tony's Audi?"

(That one was hardly funny while it happened, by the way).

"Remember when a guy was getting handsy with Nat at the bar and she flipped him and both his friends over the counter?"

"Remember when Clint spent twenty minutes looking for his bow strapped to his back?"

"Remember when Cap said language?"

By the time the reminiscing slowed, Tony's eyes were getting heavy and his phone said it was nearing 3:45am.

"I don't know about you boys, but it's been quite the damn day." Tasha spoke up first, stretching then standing.

"Yeah, I think I'll hit the sack." Banner added, standing as well.

"Very subtle. You two have fun." Tony teased. Bruce sighed and sat down again. "Don't pout, Brucie. You know I'm busting your balls. Get outta here."

Natasha and Bruce left, followed by Thor who "bid them a goodnight and seemless slumber".

"I'm going to head back too." Hawkeye said gruffly, looking back at his house. "Can't avoid the place forever. Just keep the fire burning when you come in. It'll burn out by itself."

Soon it was just Tony and Steve, finishing off their last beer and being hypnotized by the fire.

"You really think we have a chance at bringing our people back?" Tony finally voiced. Cap looked at him and shrugged.

"It's damn well worth it to find out."

Tony nodded.

"Well, you may need something then..." Tony pulled out his phone. "F.R.I.D.A.Y!"

"Yes, boss?"

"Send capsule A34E77."

It took an awkwardly long time to arrive. It wasn't quite the dramatic entrance Tony was looking for, but when the metal capsule crashed into the ground fifteen feet away from them, he knew he had Steve's attention. Tony got up and walked to the storage unit, telling his AI to open it up. The mechanism inside whirred as the metal unfolded, revealing the contents; Cap's shield. His eyes lit up by the sight of it. Tony took the weapon in his hands, lifting is and walking over to meet Captain who was already out of his seat.

"Here. This is for you." Tony said, handing back the shield. It was good to see Rogers with it again.

"Thank you," Steve thanked, holding the shield on one arm tightly and shaking Tony's hand with the other. He pulled back and moved his body around with the shield in hand a bit, getting used to the grip. "Man, this feels good."

"Well we'll need you at full force to 'rise or fall and give your all' to find these stupid rocks and a way to make a gauntlet." Stark referenced the Star Spangled Man song again, hoping Steve still wanted to stick to the plan. Cap looked at Tony and gave him a respectful nod. That's all he needed to see.

"Good night, Tony."

"Good night, Steve."

And with that, Rogers left, leaving Stark to his thoughts at the side of the bonfire. He watched it for a while, thinking about this particular night and how good it was to have the six of them together again. Under the circumstances, not so much, but that aside, it was a night Tony wouldn't trade for anything. Having the team on the same page again was especially comforting when hoping for this new "2nd gauntlet" plan to move along efficiently. He felt like they finally fully put aside all of their differences and were ready to be a team again- the original Avengers doing what they were meant to do. Avenging the new. All they had to do was acquire all six infinity stones and harness their unmatched power into a magical glove. Easy, right?

Well, in two weeks time, they did just that.


	8. Hand of Doom

Once the Avengers had their little night of fun by the campfire, everything seemed to take off from there. They turned Barton's farm into an apocalypse headquarters of sorts, figuring that if Thanos didn't send his goons after them yet then they were probably safe for the long run. Besides, the world was in complete chaos out there- abandoned stores being ravaged, crime spiking, people going nuts with confusion and grief for those who were lost... The government was in full swing trying to keep things under control, but it was understandably difficult when the world suddenly changed so drastically out of nowhere. The news stations were still up and running though, and the question they continued to ask was- where are the Avengers?

Working their asses off, that's where.

The first couple of days were dedicated to transforming the farm into their own personal research facility. The coolest part (in Tony's opinion) was the barn that Barton let Bruce, Shuri and Tony completely change into their personal lab. That's where the three of them spent most of their time, trying to find out how the hell to recreate a magical glove to harness the power of equally magical stones. Admittedly, they'd be nowhere without the help of Thor and Rocket who took the responsibility of traveling to different dimensions to gather all the information on the stones they could. The biggest help came from a dwarf (yeah, a _dwarf_ like some Lord of the Rings shit) from a place Thor called Nidavellier- the dude created the gauntlet in the first place so it only made sense to take his every word of advice. Tony didn't mind this setup, as long as he wasn't the one traveling to space again. He was keeping his feet firmly planet on Earth soil from now on.

Well, with one exception. Once they created this monster of a mitten, Stark would be there on Titan as soon as Peter materialized. That's how he imagined it anyway. They would find out how to undo the snap and the dust would rise from the ground and wind together just as it wound apart. Piece by piece he'd come back- they'd all come back... he hoped. Tony didn't want the kid to wake up alone on an alien planet though. Not after everything he's already been through.

Not everything was smooth sailing. There was the problem of not actually possessing the stones and having to steal them back from Thanos when he so seamlessly ripped those same stones from them. Little by little, mission by mission they were doing it though. The very first attempt allowed them to grab two stones at Barton's expense- he suffered a pretty nasty gash in the back of his head as a nice first introduction to Thanos, but nothing that was too debilitating.

About four stones down, two to go, Tony had a bit of an internal crisis himself. He was in the barn-lab, studying the internal structure of the reality stone for what felt like the billionth time. Stark's eyes roamed over the complex network of firing synapses, trying to find a pattern or _some_ way of controlling its power. He felt so close like he was just a step away from understanding enough to harness the intense amount of energy held within the small entity. It was _right_ there, but...

"Damnit!" Tony burst, making Bruce jump from across the counter where he studied the prototype of the gauntlet that Eitri had sent back with Thor. Tony threw his chair back from his workstation and walked briskly outside, ignoring Shuri and Bruce's call for him to come back. He threw open the doors into the cooling evening air, the last bit of sun blanketing the Earth in a warm glow that was very unfitting for the occasion. He felt the eyes of his new and old friends turn to him as he stalked across the yard, hands clenched into fists and teeth gritted. He needed to get away from their constant watching eyes- waiting and waiting for him to magically come up with the answer to the universe's problems, literally.

Tony Stark was a lot of things. Billionaire, yes, whatever. Owner of one of the world's leading companies, okay. MIT graduate. Renowned philanthropist. One of the world's leading minds in the tech industry. Iron Man.

He was _not,_ however, an alien artifact specialist and people were seeming to forget that. _He_ was seeming to forget that. Stark was really over his head this time, at least that's what he felt like at that moment. If he screwed this up, he felt like it was him who killed half the universe, not Thanos. Him who killed Wanda, T'Challa, Sam, Peter...

"Stark!" A voice bellowed from Barton's porch where Thor was in charge of grilling tonight. Pheasant was on the menu, an "Asgardian favorite". Great.

"Where are you going?" Shuri called from where she stood in the threshold of the barn. It wasn't until Tony felt a hand pull at his own when he spun on his heel, yanking it away out of defensive reflex. Pepper stood there, wide eyes, hands held out in front of her defensively.

"Tony, cool it for a second."

He instantly softened upon seeing her, but the sound of his heart pounding in his ear didn't cease. His breath caught in his throat and his voice dropped so only she could hear his strained words.

"I. Can't. Do. This. I'm way out of my range here; we're way over our heads."

"I know you're frustrated. No one is expecting you to just-"

"But if I don't-"

"Hey, Tony..." Cap's voice sounded. Tony watched his red, white, and blue striped friend take timid steps over, the rest of the team behind him. They often did that- congregate outside rather than be cramped up in the small farmhouse. They had tents, the fire pit, the quinjet and everything out in the front yard, so that's where most of their time was spent. It was unfortunate for Tony at that moment as he was now surrounded by an expectant audience during his near-panic attack episode. "Why not just take a quick break. You've been at that for nearly 9 hours today already."

 _14, actually_. Tony wanted to say, but he didn't want everyone to know what little sleep he's been getting. He couldn't help the nightmares though. He couldn't help that he constantly saw Peter's face, his eyes wide with fear and his hands gripping Tony's arms like he was trying to grab onto life and hold on as it slipped away.

"We're not even _close_." Tony groaned, running both of his hands through his already disheveled hair.

"Come on, Tony. We can't afford to think like that." Banner said, walking out from the barn now.

"No, we can't afford to chase after our own tails on a hope that may be-"

"Hold on, hold on. You were the one who rallied us all up in the first place!" Rocket argued, looking up from his futuristic tablet thingy.

"I understand that, talking raccoon-man, but all of this is just a little above my level!"

Everyone quieted, obviously not knowing quite what to say, and how would they? No one had anything comforting to offer up. They were just as lost as Tony was.

"Are we…" Tony sighed and let his arms fall to his sides, turning to look at Cap. "Is the water higher than we are tall?"

Cap just looked at Tony, a pressed, solemn expression worn on his face. That wasn't quite the response Stark was looking for. Tony turned away towards the edge of the woods to the East of Barton's property. He watched the trees in the wind, remembering the ones in Wakanda that loomed above him as he stood next to Vision's lifeless, greyed body.

"I saw this happen." He mumbled miserably, refusing to turn and look at his unintentional audience.

"What?" Banner asked cautiously.

"The end. All my friends… our friends dead at the hands of aliens. Never envisioned a large purple thumb, but still; logistics were there."

"Tony, that was Wanda playing with-"

"But it happened, didn't it? And that wasn't the only time. God, the dreams I had. I was terrified of this for six years- it's not like I was blindsided. And still I wasn't enough,"

"Tony-"

"We weren't enough. Why would something change after the fact?"

Stark realized he was raining on everyone's parade, but once his thoughts started spilling out, he couldn't stop the flood.

"That wasn't the only one of you dreams that may have come true." Pepper's voice caught him off guard. Tony frowned and cocked his head towards her in confusion. She looked timid all of the sudden. He knew that look. It only showed when she had something that she didn't really want to tell him.

"Oh God, the giant, man-eating chinchillas?" He asked, horror tinging his voice. Pepper closed her eyes in frustration.

"No! No…" She gazed up at him again. If those weren't total intentional puppy dog eyes, he didn't know what were. "Tony." She plainly said as if she was begging him to understand with her voice. He stood there frozen, face still frowning through his searching thoughts. He didn't understand though, he-

"Wait…" His voice dropped so low it was nearly a whisper. "You- But-" Tony took a stuttering breath in, turning away towards the woods again, putting his hands on his head and trying to wrap his mind around what he was hearing.

"Uh…" He stuttered, turning to Pepper again who stood there waiting for him to form coherent words. He took a step forward, his eyes never leaving hers. "Are you sure?" He asked, his voice still quiet. She looked at him apologetically.

"Well, no technically. But I'm late Tony. Really late." She told him, her blue eyes gazing up at his, pleading him not to freak out. "And yesterday, when I got sick-"

"You said you were accidentally ate something with strawberries."

She gave him a guilty smile. _Morning sickness_. Tony realized. _Hooooly Shit._

"Tony?" She asked worriedly. He realized he had been standing there completely still for a while, a look of dumbfoundedness probably clear across his face. The rest of the "Barton Camp" looked pretty similar though, most of them starting to figure out what was going on.

"I-" Tony tried to get out words, but they didn't come. He didn't even know what he was feeling. This was an awful weird time to find out you were having a kid. The fate of the already-broken universe was on his shoulders, half of his friends just perished, the world in chaos… Were the conditions ideal? Not quite. But it didn't change the fact that Stark's chest tightened with a new kind of anticipation. A good kind for once.

Tony let out an exasperated laugh and took a step forward to wrap Pepper in his arms. She snaked her own around his neck as he buried his face in her hair and neck. Tony sighed happily, squeezing his fiancé and now possibly the mother of his kid, tightly.

"Why wouldn't you tell me until now?" He realized, stepping back but keeping his hands wresting gently on her forearms. Pepper shrugged a shoulder.

"I realized I was late after you told me about your freaky dream, but I didn't even think it'd be possible with the extremis. I got a test just to see what would happen, but then the end of the world happened so…"

"Yeah, I guess this isn't the ideal time to be thinking of raising a kid," Tony said, looking at her sadly.

"Unless you get back in there and change that." She said, cocking an eyebrow at him. Okay, now he got it. She was trying to give him the motivation to get out of his funk. Granted, it was working. "You already have one kid counting on you. Just add this one to the list." She said, no doubt referring to Peter as well. Tony ran his hands through his hair again. They were shaking at this point, probably from the shock of the bombshell Pepper just released on him.

Looking around, it was almost amusing to see everyone's reactions. Natasha was beaming which was quite the sight to see. Cap had a subtle but genuine half-smile on his face, his eyes that had shown nothing but exhaustion lately, lit up at the news. Bruce's eyes were wide, his hand covering his mouth in surprise. Thor laughed a booming chuckle.

"This is great! Stark is with child!"

"Welcome to the club, Iron Dad." Hawkeye added, walking forward to clap a hand on Tony's back. A smile crept up on Tony's face. He couldn't help it. His eyes never left Pepper's either. God, if someone told him ten years ago that he'd be having a kid with his gorgeous, smart, sassy assistant Pepper Potts…

"So why don't you take a break…" Pepper proposed, raising her eyebrows authoritatively. "Take a quick nap and refresh so you can get back to work so if we do have a kid, they won't have to grow up in this hell hole."

"Honestly, I don't think I can sleep now that-"

"Tony." Pepper cut him off, staring daggers. He held back a smile and bit his lip. He knew that meant she had zero intentions of actually sleeping.

"Okay."

Tony made sure that no more than a minute went by before he and Pepper were alone in the guest room. Before they could even get to the threshold, he scooped her up so that her legs were wrapped around his waist and her arms around his neck, holding on as Tony carried her. Stark kicked the door closed with his foot and gently laid her on the bed, using his elbows to prop himself up to be hovering above her. He knew it drove her nuts when he did this- hold his body right above hers so that there was only about an inch of space in between them. He could never tease her for too long though because it drove him equally crazy.

Pepper took initiative anyway, tightening her legs around his waist to bring him down onto her. She sighed happily underneath him at the contact, her arms also tightening around his neck to bring his face closer to hers. He smiled a bit before kissing her. Every time they kissed sent Tony's head spinning, don't get him wrong. Even after all of these years, she still had an intoxicating effect on him like you wouldn't believe. There were, however, a few instances where they'd kiss and it'd be extra special:

The first time on the roof (Tony would never let go of that feeling), saying "I love you" for the first time, after returning from nearly being killed whether it be from flying a missile into space, Killian, Ultron, etc., their first make-up kiss after their relationship break from hell, after Tony proposed (finally), and now; after they fully realized that they were doing this. They were having a little Stark together.

Tony melted into her, not breaking the rhythm of his lips on hers as she reached a hand into his hair, combing her fingers through and making him shiver. Stark pressed himself into her harder, pulling a moan from Pepper's lips. Something about just finding out the news was making Tony especially needy. Every touch, every inch of her body, every sound she made and breath she took sent what felt like pulses of electricity through his body. Who knew it was possible to be so happy during the Thano-pocalypse?

Taking him off guard, Pepper flipped them both over so that he was on his back and she sat above him, still straddling his hips. Tony took a stuttering breath and smiled in amusement up at her. He always found it funny that she liked to be more in control than she wanted to admit.

Pepper began to move against him causing Stark's eyes to roll back and a groan to escape. He let his head fall back onto the bed and reached his hands forward to rest on her hips, playing with the hem of her shirt. A pit of burning warmth was building in his abdomen and he felt like he needed her, _now_.

Once Tony pulled her shirt off though, he stopped. He eyed her taught stomach from where he laid under her, running his fingertips along the surface of her skin. The corner of his mouth slid up a bit while imagining that there was a little person growing inside of there.

"So that's where junior is, right now." He said in slight disbelief. Pepper rolled her eyes and scoffed through a smile.

" _Please_ don't call it junior." She complained. Tony smiled up at her and then turned his eyes back to her stomach. His smile began fading and the warm feeling in his chest began to fade. Pepper took his hands in hers and rested them on her stomach. "What's wrong?"

Tony looked up at her, concern etched on his face. She looked worried that he was behaving this way. He didn't mean to scare her, but…

"How am I supposed to take care of this kid if I couldn't even protect the other one? He's not even mine, and I still-"

"Hey." Pepper interrupted sternly. Then more gently, "Come here."

She placed her hands on his forearms and helped pull him up into a sitting position, Pepper still remaining pressed flush against him with a leg on either side of him. Tony shuddered from the intensified contact, letting his head fall near her collarbone since she was obviously much taller when straddling his lap.

Pepper didn't say anything at first. She just let him lazily kiss along her bare collarbone, moving the straps of her bra away to leave her shoulders bare as well. It wasn't heated but rather sad, slow and sweet. Stark was very conflicted at the moment to say the least. He was elated about the whole baby thing, and his body was also aching for Pepper, but at the same time, his heart sunk with the thought of Peter and his failure to protect the people he loved.

"You're going to get Peter back. Tony, I know you. You are stubborn as hell. Trust me."

Tony sighed into her skin and nuzzled himself into her neck. Pepper arched her back just the tiniest bit so it was barely noticeable, but Tony always noticed. He loved making it happen.

"Also…" she added, gripping his hair right above the back of his neck and gently using it to pull his head up to look at her. Tony looked up at her expectantly. "I'm not 100% sure about the baby thing yet. I don't want you to get all excited only to find out-"

"Nope. No way, Pepper Potts. You are not taking this from me- It's happening."

"I can't really do anything about it if it isn't though!"

"Nuh-uh. There's a little iron baby in there, I know it."

"You do?" She asked, amused.

"Uh-huh." He affirmed with a confident nod of his head. Then with one sweeping motion, he slid off the bed, taking Pepper with him. She shrieked and tightened her legs around his waist as he took a step across the room and pushed her against the wall, pinning her up with his own body. She inhaled sharply and just barely dug her nails into his shoulder. "But we should probably take certain precautions." He said, a sly smile clear on his face. "To make sure."

Pepper giggled and kissed him, pulling his shirt over his head as he fumbled with the button of her jeans.

"I love you. No matter what happens." She whispered. Stark slowed for a bit and smiled sadly up at her.

"I love you too. So much."

Anyway... That's how Tony found out he was (probably) going to be a Dad.

Pepper's attempt to motivate him must've worked because just a few days after that, they were gathered around the bonfire area outside, ready to discuss who would be the one to "un-snap the snap" as everyone was calling it. Everything was in place. The stones in their possession and they had a way to harness their power, even if it wasn't a direct replica of the gauntlet.

That night after Tony and Pepper "celebrated", Stark had the sudden idea to not try to mimic Thanos's methods. Tony was never one for replication anyway. He liked doing things his own way, so after bringing this up to Bruce and Shuri, the three of them paved their own road towards a stone wielding artifact of destruction. Well… artifacts. They were rings, not unlike a large class ring or a step below an NBA championship ring. One for each finger, save for the middle which ideally would hold two near each knuckle. In this manner, the inner neural-like pulses inside the stones could more easily read and interpret the intention of humans (or any other intelligent beings). The best part was that they woundn't fit on Thanos's giant violet digits.

It got a lot more complex than that, but Tony wasn't even sure he himself fully understood it. What he did know was that it took quite the toll on the user, especially with all six rings.

"So…" Natasha said once they were all gathered around, eating the beef stew Cap and Natasha made for everyone. An outlaw country favorite, Tony had suggested earning a few dirty looks for his amusement. As long as he didn't need to attempt to cook, he was fine with whatever by whoever. "Who's going to do it?"

"I mean, probably someone who knows how it works would be best, right?" Rocket asked. Eyes turned to Tony, Bruce and Shuri.

"I'd like to point out that I have a track record of screwing the pooch when it comes to worldwide protection." Tony offered up, and meaning it wholeheartedly. He'd admit, the stones freaked him out a bit, but he mainly didn't trust himself enough. It seems everyone was in a mutual agreement. "Geez, quick to agree with that one. Thanks." He mumbled.

It was discussed that out of everyone there, Shuri probably knew the most. Not to mention that even though Hulk has been no-show lately, the last thing they needed was for him to suddenly make an appearance while Banner was wearing those rings.

"Okay, but just the un-snap and that's it. I want nothing to do with these." She voiced. Everyone nodded and made sounds of agreement. "And… I want to go to Wakanda."

"Why? It is likely that Thanos is just waiting for us to return." Thor said.

"Shuri… Your brother will be okay. We can find him later after we know the rings are safe from Thanos." Okoye said soothingly, putting a hand on Shuri's shoulder.

"Once you release that kind of energy into the world, he'll find us. We need to make sure we're ready." Bruce added.

"Which is why we should go back where I know my resources and my people. Not to mention, our friends will be there to help if all goes as planned." Shuri explained.

"Alright so why don't we take advantage of the fact that Thanos will almost inevitably be wherever the snap occurs?" Tony spoke up, his mind starting to form a plan.

"What do you mean?" Hawkeye questioned.

"As lovely as your home and hospitality have been, Barton, we can't stay here forever. We have no protection, no resources, not to mention no room. If we're about to be housing a significant increase in people, and I pray we are, I propose we go back to the compound."

"We tried returning there. They nearly obliterated us." Rhodey argued.

"There's full lockdown mode that I didn't even have the chance to activate. All-inclusive stabilized perimeter, enhanced reinforcements, all the fun stuff. Just give me a chance to have it up at its full potential."

Everyone seemed to consider it.

"I personally want to go home." Tony added, shrugging plainly afterward. It was true too. He felt like just being back in the place that they all called their own with full amenities would give them a leg up that they'd need to destroy Thanos which was the next step.

"Alright, so we have half of us go to Wakanda to fend off Thanos and half of us go with Stark to the compound to get things up and running." Cap affirmed.

"Actually, Cap. If you wouldn't mind, I think I'd like to stay here." Barton offered. He didn't need to explain why. "At least until I have my family alive and safe again. Then by all mean, if there's room at the compound…" He said, looking to Tony for approval.

"Of course." Stark answered. Actually, he added a whole "family" wing for Barton if the need ever arose. Now he was patting himself on the back for being so proactive.

And so, the team was split up. Team Wakanda consisted of Shuri, Okoye, M'Baku, Thor, Coulson, Rhodey and Captain. Team Compound was Tony, Bruce, Natasha, Rocket, and Pepper. The goal was to get Thanos off their tails long enough to get themselves and the stones back to the compound and hopefully the facility would be in full swing by then.

"Alright," Cap said, taking a deep breath. He was obviously shaken, as were they all. This was it. This was "the moment of truth" as the cliché would dictate. They either failed a second time and probably gave up their last hope of ever restoring the universe, or they avenged. If all of this work was for nothing, Tony didn't know how he'd survive the blow. They all had a little too much riding on this, but that's really all that kept them going at this point. "We'll drop all of you off upstate and then head back to Wakanda. We'll hold Thanos at bay for as long as we can and hopefully, we'll return to a secure compound with a lot more people than we left with."

"Can I just borrow point-break for a _teeny_ bit, post-snap?" Tony piped up. Cap opened his mouth to say something, but Rocket beat him to it.

"Look, I know you must be eager to see your pals again. I am too, but I promise you. My guys will take care of your guys and get them back here safely. I've already transmitted a message to our ship guiding them back over here to Earth."

Tony opened his mouth to argue but thought against it. He took a disappointed sigh instead. He didn't like not being there when Peter reformed on Titan all alone, but he guessed it was fully alone. The "guardians" seemed to be an interdimensional circus ready to blow, but they did seem… nice for a lack of a better word. Plus, there was the wizard- Tony was still unsure about the guy but he was better than nothing.

Whether Tony wanted to go to Titan or not didn't seem to matter anyway. In a short hour, he was standing on the lawn outside the compound right at the mouth of the quinjet, shaking Cap's hand firmly.

"Be careful." Steve warned, worry etched into his face. Tony clapped a hand on his friend's shoulder.

"You know me. Always." He said, sarcasm in play. Rogers smiled a bit with Stark, but their smiles soon fell. The intensity in the air around them was nearly suffocating.

"Bring our guys home." Stark said in a low voice, making sure to keep his eyes locked with Steve's for every word. Cap nodded dutifully.

"Give us a home to come back to."

And with that, they were off. Tony turned to examine the rubble of his once glorious headquarters. The damage could've been a lot worse- I mean, look at Tony's mansion after he invited a terrorist over for a playdate. Still, it was enough to destroy part of the machine harnessing the power of the giant reactor Tony had going in the basement. It was the main power source for the protective perimeter Tony had invented a while ago as a precautionary measure. It was similar to the quinjet and helicarrier tech in the way that it used artificial reflective surface light automation to make things camoflague perfectly enough to pull off a disappearing act. Through holograms, Tony was able to set one up for the whole facility. Not only that, but they had all the fun defense gadgets ready to blast intruders into oblivion as well. The security system could be kicked up a notch to detect any human-like (and Tony used the word "human" loosely) heat signatures within a ten-mile radius of the facility. He just needed a little time to get everything set and ready. "War-mode" he called it in its head. That was the cooler name, but out loud he'd just say enhanced security because he knew he'd be teased by his friends otherwise.

"Bruce, I need you with me. We need to fix the reactor in the basement. Tasha, F.R.I.D.A.Y will help you program the level 9 security features in the SCC. Make sure to give clearance to Coulson's quinjet."

"Zephyr." She corrected. Tony rolled his eyes and waved her away.

"Whatever. Stripes, I need you to keep an eye in the sky with that tracker thing of yours and keep watch of the perimeter. If you see anyone suspicious get to close-"

"Blast 'em to hell." Rocket finished.

"I was going to say check with someone to make sure they aren't friendlies, but sure. Can't say I don't admire your style."

Rocket looked pleased and went to find a place on the roof to keep watch. Tony turned to Pepper.

"Stay with Nat in the SCC and man the coms. I don't have the long-distance ones up and running so our only connection is through the control room. You're our sole link to Team Wakanda so you're going to have to be giving constant updates on both sides." Tony finished while tampering with his arc reactor on his chest and letting his suit form over his right arm. She didn't say anything so he glanced up, meeting her eyes. He couldn't read her expression.

"Please?" Tony added hesitantly. Pepper slightly smiled and then sighed, face falling.

"Don't die or anything." She begged. Tony tested the movement of his titanium-clad arm real quick before stepping forward and taking Pepper's hand in his free one. She knew what an unstable or damaged reactor could do. She herself almost blast him off the roof with one ten years ago, per his request of course.

"Yeah, you either." He said, kissing the back of her hand and giving it a tight squeeze before letting go. He let his hand fall to her waist, his fingertips just barely sliding under the hem of her shirt and grazing the skin over her stomach. He smiled a little, looking down as if he could see through her to the little embryo. Taking a deep breath, he made a list in his head.

1\. Fix the reactor

2\. Get defense systems upgraded and online

3\. Un-snap (get the kid back)

4\. Kick Thanos's ass

5\. Get back to Pepper and Iron baby all in one piece

6\. Eventually destroy Thanos and restore the universe to its formal glory, or the closest to "glory" they could get

"I'm going to catch up with Nat." Pepper interrupted his thoughts. Tony let his hand fall away and met her admiring and slightly amused eyes.

"Okay." He said softly, hating being torn apart even if they were both in the compound still. Pepper leaned forward and gave him one last kiss before going after Natasha. Stark watched her go, feeling his chest warm. Ever since the baby news, they had been over the moon with each other- more than usual anyway.

That's probably why it was so easy to forget that sometimes they weren't alone. Tony turned and saw Bruce staring at him impatiently with raised eyebrows.

"Oh," Tony stated plainly. "You're still here."

With that, he and his friend took off for the basement.

Fast forward about twenty minutes, Banner and Tony had the arc reactor stabilizer opened up like a patient on a surgical table. Tony was very carefully poking and prodding at the insides, trying to replace damaged parts. Pepper had recently checked in saying that everything was in place at Wakanda with no signs of Thanos just yet. Shuri had the rings on and was just testing her control of their powers, practicing with small exercises like altering the reality of a sword into a snake, levitating things with the power stone or transporting herself two feet over through space. It sounded like she was feeling confident- or as confident as someone with the responsibility of restoring half the universe could feel anyway.

They were doing well at the compound too. Nat almost had all the systems up and running, Rocket obliterated a poor, innocent deer by mistake, and Tony nearly stabilized the reactor with a lot of help from Bruce. Tony started to kick things into high gear though when a change hit the air. He couldn't quite explain it, but he could tell Banner felt it too. Something big just happened, and Stark had a feeling it had to do with the rings. Whether it was what they wanted or something that went terribly wrong, he didn't know. He prayed for the former.

"Tony, there's a problem." Pepper's voice came over the speaker of Tony's phone that was set nearby. Great. Already? "Thanos caught on."

"Caught on, what do you mean caught on?" Bruce asked, stepping away from the hologram projects of the reactor that he was studying.

"He knew that you weren't there, Tony. He knows something is up and is coming for you. He's coming for all of us, while-"

Pepper faded off.

"While what?" Tony asked frantically, still not tearing his eyes from his work on the reactor. He had to get this done and fast.

"I don't know!" She cried out in frustration. "The coms are fading out. It's all coming in small clips."

Tony swore under his breath. He didn't know what Thanos's personal agenda against him was all about. Maybe just the fact that he let Tony live irked him and he wanted to finish the job. Either way, if Stark didn't get the compound back up in full swing, they were all probably toast.

"Incoming!" Rocket's voice projected over the phone as well. "Beings stepping out of space portals in the front lawn wasn't part of my job description!" He added, followed by the sound of gun blasters. So that meant Thanos somehow had the space stone at the very least. How did this happen? Something went very wrong in Wakanda.

"Shit, shit…" Pepper's voice sounded. Tony's chest tightened at the sound of her distress. He'd be damned before he let that lumbering purple oaf touch his fiancé and kid. Tapping his arc reactor, the rest of the suit materialized around him and he used a repulsor to blast a hole in the ceiling, flying out of it.

"Stay here and fix this!" Tony ordered Bruce. He didn't have time to see if his friend complied. Instead, he was instantly met with the sight of Thanos and his deteriorating gauntlet, not one but two stones shining brightly on the knuckles- space and soul. Damn.

"F.R.I.D.A.Y. connect me to the coms." Tony ordered. His AI happily complied, connecting him to Pepper, Bruce and Rocket's voices once again.

"My guns don't do shit!" Rocket complained loudly.

"Tony be-"

Pepper's voice was cut off by a sudden strike to Tony's right side that sent him flying into the cement wall of the compound. Stark groaned and crumpled to the ground, pain flaring up in his healing wound in his side. There wasn't enough Vicodin in the world that could've softened that blow. What the hell even happened?

"He's transporting fast!" Rocket answered Tony's internal question. Stark looked up to see it with his own eyes. In a fraction of a second, a portal materialized in front of where he laid on the ground and Thanos stepped through, towering above him. Tony's reflexes kicked in and he launched a double repulsor blast at the Titan's face, at least distracting him with the strike enough for Tony to roll out from under him and fly up to the roof near the raccoon.

"Tasha! Now would be a good time to test those systems out!" Tony yelled. On cue, guns emerged from panels in the exterior of the compound. They locked down on Thanos and released bullets and blasts of energy down on him from all angles. Thanos was taken down to a knee, his hands held in front of his face. He managed to activate the space stone though and transported out of the rain of fire.

"Where'd he go?" Tony wandered out loud, not seeing any portals jumping up anywhere. Suddenly, his right ankle was yanked out from under him from behind and he hit the roof hard. Thanos took him by the leg and threw him rag-doll style into the third floor of the building. Tony tried to activate his thrusters to stop his path from flying straight into a concrete wall, but everything happened to fast. He impacted with a loud bang and felt damage in his suit on his left arm and the back of his helmet. Tony willed himself to reform the nano-technology around the injured areas of his suit, but his head was having trouble grasping onto reality.

"Concussion detected." F.R.I.D.A.Y. informed. Pepper's voice came over the coms. He didn't quite focus on what she was saying but he could tell she wasn't happy.

A giant hand grabbed the front of Tony's suit and lifted him off the ground, slamming him into the concrete wall just beside the giant Avengers "A".

 _Yeah, some help they are right now._ Tony thought as he heard the stone crack around him from the impact. The holographic diagram of the suit was showing multiple contusions all over his body, but before he had time to even take another breath, he was hurled over the edge of the building, the ground coming up at him fast.

Tony's head spun and fear gripped his chest as he realized in those milliseconds that he was too out of it to deploy defenses. Squeezing his eyes shut, Stark braced himself for the unfriendly impact, but surprisingly, it never came. Instead, he hit something soft, springy, and thankfully impact absorbent. Clearing his head, Tony looked around him to see what he landed on, a smile instantly spreading across his face. Tony let out a short, relieved laugh, not sure how to contain his excitement.

…It was a web.


	9. End of the Beginning

Everything fell into place at once.

The web stuck to Tony's suit so he was finding it difficult to untangle himself to get back to the ground. This was unfortunate because Thanos took a mighty leap from the top of the compound after flicking Rocket to the side like he was nothing more than a flee… A flee unloading a space machine gun into Thanos's face to be more specific.

Even from a good number of yards away and through the forest of trees surrounding the facility, Tony could see the titan's eyes ablaze. He let out a hideous, furious roar and ran towards Stark, easily shouldering a tree down to the ground on the way. Tony wriggled his arm from the sticky web and activated the laser out of his suit over the top of his hand, frantically trying to cut himself down.

Thankfully, he didn't need to. Familiar, red wisps of light danced through the air at the base of the trees before him, winding up their trunks delicately almost like water if it flowed upwards. Thanos didn't seem to even realize. He kept on his thunderous self-blazed trail towards Tony until the red wisps grew in intensity. In one swift movement of blunt contrast, the trees were torn from the Earth and slammed down into the ground before Tony, the sound of the impact filling the air and a whoosh of wind washing over Stark. He couldn't see Thanos through the barricade of fallen lumber anymore, but he did see a girl descend to the ground, encircled by that same red glow that saved him just seconds ago. Tony cut the last of the webbing around him and dropped to the ground, bending his knees to make sure he stuck the landing. Straightening, he turned to face Wanda.

"Will a thank you suffice?"

Wanda whipped around to face him, but instantly shrunk back, covering her eyes. Stark rushed forward and put a hand on her arm.

"You okay?"

"Everything is… extra sensitive. The light-" She muttered painfully, turning to face away from the Sun.

Tony sensed the burst before it happened. He could just barely see Thanos wind up from behind the trees and took every moment in between to wrap an arm around the kid and blast off, away from the enraged brute who power-punched straight through the solid logs of wood, spraying shards and splinters everywhere. Tony flew to temporary safety on the lawn of the compound, making sure to keep a tight grip on Wanda. He gently set her down.

"If you don't feel up to it, stay out of the way." He instructed.

"I'm fine." She countered bitterly, through squinted eyes.

"Geez, who knew crankiness was a side effect of being a pile of ash?"

Tony didn't have time to stick around and see her reaction, but he was sure he got some sort of dirty look. She could act like she hated him all she wanted though, he was just ecstatic she was here. And that meant…

"Hell yeah!" A voice came over the coms, followed by Rhodey.

"Take it easy, tweety bird."

With a giant swoop, Sam (wings included) soared overhead and fired a stream of bullets into the forest towards Thanos. Out of the corner of his eye to the right, Tony saw the inhuman movement of a dark figure that was particularly cat-like. To his left, a giant ship that was definitely not from Earth landed with a mechanical whirr. The raccoon gradually approached it, tablet fallen to the ground and completely forgotten about. The hatch opened and there was Star-Jesus himself, followed by the rest of the Mystery Gang and Strange. So where was…

"Hey Mr. Stark!"

Tony's breathing stopped for a moment. He turned towards the tree line to see a web shoot up to a high tree branch followed by his favorite spider-boy swing underneath. Peter was mid-air on track to land right next to Tony.

"Sorry I'm late-"

All of the sudden, Thanos materialized from a space portal and slammed a giant fist into Peter's unsuspecting chest. Peter cried out and flew off to the side, hitting the ground and sliding a few feet. Tony bid silent thanks to the fact that the kid was still wearing the Iron-Spider suit. He made sure Peter stood up before turning to Thanos, repulsors at the ready.

And he wasn't alone.

Cap's presence joined him at his right, original shield strongly in hand. Another person was shadowing him, and Tony had to resist the urge to roll his eyes. Bucky Barnes. Just because he agreed to bury the hatchet with Cap didn't mean he had to like his homicidal pal.

More and more lined up around them. T'Challa dropped to a crouch, Sam and Rhodey landed simultaneously, Thor hit the ground in a burst of lightning, Wanda raised her arms encircled in red streams of light, Okoye stepped forward with a long spear in hand, Strange billowed over, wrapped in his trusty cape, the guardians lined up with guns at the ready (uh, was that a _tree?)_ , and finally Peter shot another web up to the corner of the building and swung over, flipping and landing gracefully on his feet. They were _quite_ the impressive bunch already, but to prove their point even further, the Zephyr soared in from above, Hawkeye dropping out before it even hit the ground. He was in full uniform, bow gripped in hand at the ready.

Thanos sneered and made a fist with his gauntlet as if to show off the fact that he already had two of the stones left. There was something different about his composure, but it wasn't until Tony knew that the un-snap had worked that he understood- Thanos was panicking. He couldn't keep up his collect, condescending aura anymore. There was just fanaticism and fury.

"I'll have my stones back."

"You have no stones? Can't help you with that one, bud." Tony retorted, keeping his ground. Thanos's malicious expression feel into a stone-faced, enraged one.

"I. am. DONE PLAYING." He shouted, his voice echoing throughout the environment.

"Then come and get them." T'Challa challenged.

"We _dare_ you." Star-Jesus added.

Thanos hardened and looked like he contemplated attack. Tony didn't let his eyes leave the titan. He felt adrenaline pulsing through him. Thanos tried to take away everyone's world, but he failed. They got everyone back and they sure as hell wouldn't be split apart again.

Suddenly, a smile spread across his weathered face and with a flex of his gauntlet, a portal formed behind him and he fell back into it, the hole closing before anyone had time to process. Once he was gone, they all stood there for a few seconds, unsure if he would pop up again, but that was it. He fled.

"Banner!" Tony instantly yelled to the coms, charging back inside and jumping through the hole to the basement that he had just created. Bruce was in the middle of welding the exterior of the reactor back together. "How're we looking?"

"Almost ready to-"

"Nope, we're ready now." Tony said, letting his helmet fall back so that he could better see the work that had been done. It looked good enough.

"Pep, Nat… If you wouldn't mind putting up the perimeter."

"Got it." He heard both of them say. The reactor whirred besides them, too loud to even speak over. Tony's eyes connected with Bruce's and he nodded his head towards the stairs to signal for them to leave.

"F.R.I.D.A.Y. give me updates." Tony asked once they were back on the main floor.

"The perimeter is in full effect. The reactor is stable, as is your location."

Tony sighed and stopped in the middle of the hallway, pressing his back against the wall and closing his eyes. He didn't pay much attention to it at the time, but that had been twenty of the most stressful moments of his life. He almost didn't believe that they were all out there. Wanda, T'Challa, Sam, Strange, the kid… The list went on.

"Tony?" Bruce asked. He was turned around in the hallway, looking back at his exhausted friend. Stark chalked part of it up to the concussion too. He's had worse though. There was just a small buzz left in the back of his head.

"Yeah, yeah. Hey, there are some people you still have to meet."

Tony let his suit retract from around him, leaving him in his jeans and "Suicidal Tendencies" band shirt. Pepper and Nat joined him and Banner, and together the four of them walked out onto the chaotic scene of the lawn. This was a good chaos though- the best kind of chaos.

Looking around, it was like a Hallmark movie threw up outside the Avengers compound. T'Challa, Okoye, and Shuri were crowded together in a close huddle by the jet, Shuri looking a little worse for wear but no noticeable physical damage. Cap had his shield in one hand and with the other, Sam wrapped in a one-armed hug. Hawkeye had one of his girls on his back, one on his leg, and his arms were there to comfort Wanda who was probably understandably still broken over Vision. The guardians had their own weird family huddle. Thor was shaking hands with Strange… Wait… Since when did they know each other?

And of course, always with the late, dramatic entrance, Tony was suddenly hit with 120 pounds of teenager. Before he knew it, the kid's arms were wrapped a little too tightly around him, his face buried in Stark's shoulder. For a split second, Tony's mind flashed back to when he and Peter were in a similar position, but a _whole_ different scenario. The only other time he held him in his arms was when he was begging for him not to let him die.

Tony let the memory fall away though, because there he was again, squeezing the air from Tony's lungs with his irregular, spidey-strength. Tony wouldn't complain though. Stark could feel every one of the kid's excited breaths and as long as he was in fact breathing, he felt like he may never complain about anything again.

"Hey…" Tony managed to wheeze out, wrapping his own arms around Peter's small frame as a content warmth spread throughout his chest. He held him as relief washed over his body, Tony's mind fully relaxed for the first time in a couple weeks.

Stark was a little surprised when Peter didn't let go. He stayed there gripping onto Tony almost as if he didn't, he'd fade away again. Tony let his chin rest on the kid's head, closing his eyes and forcing himself to truly believe that Peter was alive, safe, and home.

"You okay?" Tony asked after a little while, worried that Parker may be returning a little more distressed than he would've hoped. Peter mumbled something into Tony's shirt, but it was too muffled for him to hear. Finally, the kid released his tight grip on Stark and stepped back, shaking his hair out back into place.

"Yeah, yes, um…" Peter took a deep breath, very clearly trying to sound as put-together as possible but stumbling over his words unconvincingly. Tony patiently waited, painfully noting that the kid's eyes were a little more red than usual. Whether it be from the hypersensitivity from being brought back to life or because that's just truly how relieved he was to not be dust, Tony didn't know. He _did_ know that if he didn't cut it out, Stark was going to get choked up too and he didn't need that shit.

Peter finally sighed and looked up at Tony with genuine eyes.

"I'm okay." He affirmed. Tony smiled and tousled his hair, hooking an arm around the kid's neck and playfully pulling him into a one-arm hug.

"Well, you scared the shit out of me. Don't do it again."

Peter nodded vigorously in all seriousness. Tony kept his arm around the kid's shoulders and started leading him across the lawn.

"Are you okay?" Peter asked, looking up at Tony with big worried eyes. Stark frowned.

"Am _I_ okay?"

"You were half-dead last time I saw you!"

"Oh right. Just a little cut, no biggie."

"You were impaled!" Peter nearly shouted in astonishment as if he was more impressed by it than horrified.

"Come on, there are a few people I want to introduce you to."

"Wow, uh, hi. Sir Thor, Mr. Thor, uh…" Peter stumbled after Stark introduced Point-Break.

"Just Thor will suffice, young arachnid-child." Thor said fondly, putting a hand on Peter's shoulder. The kid had stars in his eyes, rendered completely speechless. He looked up at Thor, mouth slightly agape.

"Alright, alright. No drooling, fangirl." Tony joked as they walked away.

"And I believe you met Cap briefly."

"Oh yeah. No hard feelings though, right?"

Steve smiled and shook Peter's hand.

"None taken. Nice to formally meet you. Welcome to the Team."

"Oh right, and how could I forget…" Tony said as they made their way past Cap towards Barnes. The Winter Soldier looked at Stark suspiciously until Tony side-stepped him completely and approached Clint instead.

"Hawkeye! MVP of the squad. Don't let anyone tell you otherwise."

"Hey, I've heard a lot about you. Peter, right?"

"Yes, sir."

Hawkeye smiled and "oofed" as one of his kids literally climbed up his body.

"You've got guts, just being 16. We can barely handle this shit-"

"Daddy!" The youngest girl objected.

"Sorry! _Stuff_ …" Barton corrected. ", in our forties. Or 1500s." Barton added, amusing himself when nodding towards Thor who was shaking T'Challa's hand.

Tony kept taking the kid around, and to be honest, he was just almost as giddy as Peter was to introduce him to the rest of the crew even if he didn't show it as clearly as Parker did. The whole time, Stark never let go of that one-arm grip around him, refusing to deny the physical proof that he was alive and well.

"Ms. Maximoff." Tony approached cautiously. He knew she was probably still mad about the whole "civil war" that went down- just add her to the list. Mainly, she just looked broken. Tony thought about it though, and man did she have it rough. Her parents, her brother, and then her… robot boyfriend? Poor choice of wording, but you could get the point.

"I want to formally introduce you to Peter Parker AKA Spider-ling."

"Man." Peter corrected in an embarrassed inflection of the voice. When Peter's eyes found Wanda, Tony saw them freeze. He knew that look on the kid's face.

"Nice to officially meet you." She said, a forced smile on her face. She avoided Stark's eyes and walked away, leaving Peter still speechless.

"Wow…" He breathed.

"Don't get any ideas, Romeo. She probably won't be on the market for quite some time."

"No, no. I would never… I mean, I _could_ never…"

Tony snorted and kept Peter moving along until he met everyone. This was truly how Tony imagined it- walking from Avenger to Avenger introducing Peter, the new blood. They were all safe (for now) in the compound, and even though they lost two of the stones, that meant that Thanos still didn't have four.

After he finally let the kid go, Tony watched Peter excitedly tell the story of how the whole plan on Titan went down to Rhodey, Pepper, Sam, and Bruce. He fought the urge to smile as widely as he was beaming internally.

They could do this, now. They could win.

 **~ X ~**

Peter slipped out of his room at the compound. That's right- he had his _own_ room in the Avengers compound now. What used to be Vision's room was on his left (it was now being used by Rocket and Groot) and Natasha's room was on his right.

There were currently two general categories of Avengers in Peter's world: The ones he felt like he had established a comfortable, casual relationship with and the ones that still intimidated the hell out of him. At first, Tasha scared him shitless. She quickly warmed up to him though, often being the first person he saw in the morning. Of course, he'd only had two mornings there so far, but they already established a quick 8 A.M. schedule together. She was surprisingly very kind and hospitable for an assassin.

"Morning." She said when Peter emerged into the hallway. He always found her there, looking out the window at the sun rising over the trees.

"Good morning." Peter said, stretching and walking over next to her.

And that's how the last couple of days stared. The rest consisted of padding down to the kitchen and rummaging for cereal to eat beside an un-guessable random mix of super-heroes. The first day he was too shy to join in a conversation with Cap, Thor, Sam, and Wanda, but Steve insisted that he join in. Eating his Froot Loops, Peter offered up some polite comments but mostly watched them all interact in internal awe. He wondered if he'd ever get to a level to be able to just "hang-out" with them.

The second morning he ate with the Guardians who he knew a little better. He got along with Quill quite well actually. They could spend hours talking about movies, in fact, they pretty much did.

This particular morning, Peter grabbed Reese's Puffs and sat at the counter, surrounded by Banner, Clint, and Natasha. He was content and relaxed with this arrangement.

"…heading out this evening." Clint was saying, taking a sip of coffee.

"Wait… What?" Peter butted in, stirring around his cereal.

"The soul-space mission. We're heading out tonight." Natasha explained to him. The whole team had been forming a plan for the mission to take back to two lost stones ever since that day when everyone reunited outside. Peter just didn't fully conceptualize that it'd be happening soon.

" _Tonight_?" He asked, trying to keep nerves free out of his voice.

"Hey, your first mission as a bonafide Avenger! Are you prepared for your initiation?"

"Initiation?" Peter asked, nervousness now _clear_ in his tone. Natasha rolled her eyes and kicked Barton's chair as he cackled, letting her head fall back to look at Peter.

"He's messing with you."

"Hey, but make sure Stark takes a look at your suit before you go out in the field. Make sure everything is working right." Clint said a little more seriously. Peter turned his eyes down to his bowl, suddenly not very hungry. That was just it though, that's really why Peter was having trouble truly feeling at home here. It wasn't the people, they've been great and very welcoming. It wasn't the facility- his room alone had a PS4, tons of retro-tech to tinker with, and a _huge_ closet dedicated to solely movies. It wasn't even the day-to-day. Peter's days started off with breakfasts like this, then helping Banner in the lab to study the stones, maybe he'd catch a game on TV with Sam and Clint, a long, stressful phone call with May where he had to explain why he couldn't come home yet, some training time in the gym, a giant team dinner/meeting, and finally it was finished off by picking a movie to watch alone in his room.

So no, none of those were reasons Peter felt unwelcome.

It was Tony. Or… lack thereof.

Ever since they had their "Hallmark reunion" as Mr. Stark called it, he had barely as much as seen him from afar. He knew Tony was busy- probably even more than anyone else in the compound. The place was under some major repair construction and since it was technically "Tony's baby" as everyone called it, he spearheaded the rehabilitation. On top of that, he and Steve spent a lot of time in the third-floor conference room together, most likely talking about their options with Thanos and the team.

Even with all of that going on though, Peter would've thought he'd at least bump into Tony once and a while. The only time he was within 100 feet of him was when they all got together for dinner and talked about the game plan but Tony didn't even so much as look at him. Pete even tried to catch him at the end of dinner before he walked out, but all Tony said was,

"Give me a second, kid.", before he walked off and never returned.

Peter wasn't expecting any sort of special treatment. They were all in it to destroy Thanos, not hold hands and he understood that. Not to mention, most of Peter's past interactions with Stark were one-on-one so obviously, it'd be different when Tony was surrounded by a team of 20 people all counting on "Iron Man" to help lead them to victory.

But Mr. Stark was the only person he truly knew here. He was hoping... no, he was _expecting_ him to kind of show him the ropes a little bit at the very least. That's what Mr. Stark did. That was like 90% of their relationship. Peter couldn't help but feel a little bit ignored and abandoned. Not to mention (not that Peter was making a fuss about it) that he just _literally_ came back from the dead. Peter wasn't expecting some big parade, but it was a lot to handle. He didn't remember much from that dark place where dreams and thoughts wisped by in small, barely recognizable fragments, but he _did_ remember hoping... _praying_ that he'd see Tony again; that Mr. Stark would save the day like it seemed he always did.

Peter was grateful, of course- just confused. He guessed he thought they were closer than that- that Tony would show _some_ sort of pleased acknowledgment that he was alive. After that first day though, everything changed so quickly. Did he do something wrong?

If he did, he couldn't think of what it was for the life of him. Peter just wanted to talk to his mentor, especially about the stuff that he felt like he couldn't tell anyone else. Mainly, he was referring to the nights when he tried to sleep. Pete remembered when he was really little and was terrified of the dark. He wouldn't sleep without his nightlight on and would often wake up his parents to come and check the darkest corners of his room to ensure that there wasn't something horrifying lurking in the inky blackness. Now, it seemed silly. Little-Peter didn't have any reason to be afraid of the dark. 16-year-old Peter did.

If he closed his eyes and started to drift off, he'd see images and hear voices, not unlike the black void he spent so much time in when he lost his body. It scared Peter shitless. He couldn't count the number of times that he was positive that he was back in that awful place where he felt his existence slipping away. Luckily, every time he started panicking, Peter woke in a trembling sweat, projecting himself out of bed and turning on every light in his general vicinity.

The first night he actually spent a few hours down in the kitchen in his own make-shift, web hammock. Cap came in and nearly scared him to death. Peter had lied and told him that with the whole dust thing, his sleep schedule was all off. Even as the words came out of his mouth, Pete knew Mr. Rogers wouldn't believe them. Still, Steve politely nodded and stayed with him for a while. They talked a lot about New York and Cap even told him about Brooklyn back in the 1930s which was _so_ cool.

And yet, Peter still wished it was Tony that caught him awake at night. He'd admit, he missed him. Peter would even consider Stark as family at this point... A really weird extension of family, that is. Maybe he read it wrong. Maybe he meant a lot less to the billionaire than he thought. The realization stung quite a lot actually.

"You prefer Reese's Mush?" Clint hassled Peter, bringing him back to the conversation in the kitchen. Peter looked down sheepishly at his cereal that he'd been stirring around without a bite for some time now.

"Oh..." Peter chuckled and poured the cereal down the disposal. "I think I'm going to find Sam and do some trainer exercises." He enjoyed taking lessons from Sam on combat, even if he loved to ruthlessly tease Peter. He didn't mind though, he suspected it was similar to having an older brother if he had one.

"You think you can meet me in the lab in a couple hours?" Banner asked after swallowing a bite of his eggs. Peter nodded quickly.

"Yeah, yeah. Of course,"

At least he was wanted, _somewhere_.

"See ya, kid." Clint raised his coffee towards Peter and Natasha waved. Peter smiled a bit, and he was happy to say it was genuine.

"See ya."

As Peter walked through the hallway towards the stairs, he passed Thor who smiled and clapped a giant, god-like hand on his shoulder. Thor was trailed by Mantis, Drax, and Quill who gave him excited greetings and morning wishes before they trotted off towards the kitchen. Peter sighed happily, a little more spring to his step.

Maybe it wasn't such a big deal that Mr. Stark was avoiding him. Maybe he was fitting in more than he thought.

Peter wasn't sure what he did to be ignored, but he did know a few things: These people were counting on him, Thanos was still out there, and he was an Avenger now. Parker was still determined to prove it to not only to his new teammates but to himself. Whether or not Tony noticed or cared wasn't his problem, right?

Peter didn't realize at the time that Tony's attitude would, in reality, be his problem too. In fact, he wouldn't know this until the last possible moment almost after it was too late.

That night, the Avengers gathered in the biggest living spaces they had. The large room echoed the chatter of dozens of heroes off the walls. In what had to be the largest pizza order ever to be requested from the small pizzeria a few miles down the road, the team filled their plates and lounged on the sofas and chairs. Peter timidly took a few pieces and sat down next to Rhodey, Nat and Banner where he was comfortable.

"Weigh in, kid." Rhodey said as soon as Peter fell into the sofa.

"What are we talking about?"

"Pineapple on pizza."

"I can't help you're uncultured." Banner said, eyeing his pineapple, bacon pizza lovingly.

"And I can't help that you're nasty." Rhodey retorted, grimacing as Banner to a large bite to prove his point.

"Uh…" Peter said, an amused smile creeping up on his face. "It's not _my_ thing, but if it makes you happy."

"Good answer. Stay out of it- the food feuds get vicious around here." Natasha informed, leaning over to Peter. He chuckled and nodded, crossing his legs and relaxing into the couch cushions. Thor came and sat on the other side of him, rocking the whole piece of furniture. Peter laughed upon noticing that the god used an entire, fully loaded pizza box as his plate.

"I enjoy it, this… pizza." Thor said, happily layering two pieces on top of each other and taking a bite.

"Have you had Sanfillipo's?"

Thor shook his head, his mouth too full to speak.

"Ah, you haven't had pizza until you've had Sanfilippo's in Queens."

Thor swallowed thickly and cleared his throat.

"You and I, we shall go sometime."

"Really?" Peter asked excitedly. Thor smiled and nodded, studying his pizza.

"I think I live here now, so I have much left to try."

"Oh. Well, then you have to try Little Duck too. Oh, oh, and-"

Thor laughed and took another bite, putting a hand on Peter's shoulder and shaking it in a way that was meant to be friendly but jostled him to his core. Peter held onto his pizza for dear life.

"We shall make a list."

Peter smiled excitedly, trying not to look _too_ thrilled.

"Cool." He plainly said, but he was saying a lot more than that in his head. He and Thor were restaurant touring buddies now. No one else in the _universe_ got to say that. Peter wasn't able to wipe the grin from his face.

"Can I have everybody's attention?" Cap's voice shouted over everyone else. The room instantly quieted and Peter looked up to see Steve standing at the front of the room by the grand fireplace. Tony sat, full-suit (and no, not the Iron Man suit), legs crossed on the edge of the fireplace, talking to Pepper who sat beside him. Peter watched Mr. Stark for a while to see if he'd even as much as make eye contact with him…

Nope. Nothing.

"We've underestimated Thanos on numerous accounts in the past. We can't do that tonight." Steve began a long spiel and overview of the finalized plan. Peter easily got distracted, but he made sure to grip onto every single word. This was his first official mission as part of the team and he would be devastated if he messed it up for everyone.

The general rundown was that they triangulated Thanos's position purely through the energy signatures read through Rocket's radar. There was no way any of the tech from Earth would've gotten the job done seeing as Thanos was on another planet in space. This complicated things greatly- most of the Avengers hadn't stepped foot off of planet Earth yet. Peter still had trouble believing that he was one of the few that had.

There was the initial "scope-out squad" that'd keep their distance. Peter was in that group, in charge of webbing up any of Thanos's minions that he could without raising an alarm to make it easier on the rest of the team. Steve had pulled him aside the first time this plan was made though, making sure he understood that distance meant _distance_. If any fighting broke out later, Peter could come down and join but beforehand, Cap didn't want him as much as a couple dozen yards away. Peter wondered if that was Steve talking, or Tony talking through Steve. Either way, he didn't mind. He was just happy to be able to help.

Anyway, the rest of the plan took a different approach than they had done in the past, especially since they now possessed what everyone was calling the "infinity rings" (coolest name _ever_ , by the way). By Wanda's suggestion, they planned to attack Thanos's mind rather than his body. Through altering the environment with the reality stone (Tony's job) and infiltrating his mind with Wanda and the mind stone (also Wanda's job which was quite painful for everyone to talk about out loud, considering the circumstances of the mind stone and Vision and such), they'd have a major leg up… hopefully.

And of course, for back up, Strange with his restored and returned time stone and then Cap with the power stone. The mission was simply geared towards obtaining the soul and space stone and then proceeding to get the hell out of there _unless_ they found a window to kill Thanos once and for all. Otherwise, they'd wait. They'd wait to find a way to destroy all of the stones and Thanos with them.

"Tony?" Cap said, after running through the motions. "Anything to add?"

Stark cleared his throat and shrugged.

"You were pretty thorough, Stars. Just don't be stupid and don't be dead."

Steve gave a curt nod of agreement and then looked around the room.

"Alright, Avengers. Suit up."

Peter felt adrenaline and pure excitement rush through him at the sound of those words. At 8 years old, he'd watch these very same heroes on the news, wishing for nothing more than to be a part of their world- to be one of them. Peter was terrified of course, but his thrilled anticipation overruled that. He was ready to be an Avenger.

In ten minutes time, Peter was walking out of his room in full Iron-Spider suit. His heart was already thumping rapidly in his chest and he couldn't stop tapping his fingers against the side of his leg nervously.

"You got this kid. I'm right beside you." Clint said, approaching Peter and hooking an arm around his neck while they both walked towards the loading areas. Peter took a deep breath and nodded. It was true too, Barton was part of the squad going in early to scope things out. Similar to Peter, he'd take out who he could with a silent arrow.

Once they were outside, Clint went to say goodbye to his family, leaving Peter alone surrounded by a mill of battle-prepping superheroes. Peter spotted Banner on the Guardian's ship and was about to go talk to him when a hand landed on his shoulder.

"Mr. Parker. Change of plans, come with me." The man Peter was introduced to as Phil Coulson said. Peter frowned. That seemed weird. Why would they change plans right before they were about to leave?

Not wanting to question things on his first mission, Peter suspiciously agreed and followed Phil to a waiting quinjet a little way away from the landing pads. Phil got on, so Peter did too, taking a seat in one of the chairs with a harness by the opening hatch.

"Want anything? Water? Soda? A jacket?"

"Uh… No… I'm fine." Peter said. "Thank you." He quickly added. Phil nodded and disappeared into the cockpit. Peter watched the rest of the team talking outside the facility, waiting to disperse onto different aircrafts. Why was he alone?

"This is Agent Phil Coulson, declaring take off in five."

Peter listened to the muffled sounds of Mr. Coulson. Was anyone going to tell Peter what was going on anytime soon? I mean, he wasn't complaining, but he personally would like to know.

The hatch began closing.

"In-bound for Queens in-"

"What?" Peter shouted in surprise before even realizing that he opened his mouth. Phil stopped talking. Peter shot out of his seat and ran to the cockpit where Phil looked up at him with a guilty expression.

"Peter, listen. This wasn't me. I was told to-"

"By who?" Peter demanded, his voice high with frustration. Phil didn't say anything, but he didn't need to.

 _Mr. Stark._

Realizing the hatch was only a few feet away from closing completely, Peter shot his arm out and extended a web all the way to the top of the compound. With a swift tug, he propelled himself into the air and seamlessly slipped through the gap that was just barely big enough.

"Parker!" he heard Coulson yell after him. Peter ignored him. He ignored all the questioning comments that flew by when he swung up onto the roof of the Avengers Facility too. The only thing he heard was the deafening sound of his heart thumping in his head. It wasn't from nerves or excitement like before though, no. Peter was _furious._

Peter rushed through the compound in a haze, about to head straight for Tony's room before he saw him talking to Rhodey in the third-floor conference room. Peter burst through the doors with a bang.

"Complete _dick_ move!"

Rhodey looked up in surprise, but Tony didn't. Peter's hands were shaking and his breath was labored. His eyes were fixed on Stark, refusing the budge. Out of the corner of his field of vision, he saw Rhodes pat Tony on the back.

"I'm guessing this one's all yours. I'll leave you two." He said, flipping the mask of his War Machine suit down and exiting. Peter was alone with Tony for what felt like the first time in forever and the billionaire couldn't even look up at him from where he tinkered with the arm of his suit.

"Phil Coulson… Can't trust that man for shit…" Tony muttered, testing the movement of his hand and continuing to visually ignore Peter. With a lightning-fast motion, Pete shot a web forward and coated Tony's hand-armor. Stark sighed dramatically with frustration let his armor fall off, leaving him without any of the Iron Man suit on. "Real mature. Listen-"

"No, no, no…" Peter said, anger still fresh in his voice. "Don't tell me to 'listen'. You don't get to disappear and avoid me for _days_ and then tell me to 'listen'!"

"Okay, then don't listen. I don't care. I need to go though, in case you didn't know-"

"So do I!"

"You have an Aunt who's worried _sick_ about you," Tony argued as his voice grew in intensity, accentuating with his hand motions. "Or did you forget?"

"Wh- Don't try to pretend this is about May!" Peter fumed.

"Then what."

"It's about you- you flip-flopping every five seconds! 'I guess I need you for this _one_ mission so congrats Peter, you're an Avenger.' , then 'Oh nevermind, I'm going to ignore you like you did something wrong and then try to _trick_ you into going back home without even saying a damn word about it.'" Peter imitated Tony in a rushed slur of words.

"Kid, trust me. It's for your own good."

" _Don't_ call me kid!" Peter burst, even surprising himself. His whole body was shaking now. He couldn't remember the last time he had been this angry. It wasn't just recent events though, it was everything he's ever bottled up about his relationship with Stark. "God, you know, you're _such_ a helicopter parent."

"Woah, I am not a-"

"But the _best_ part is," Peter said, sarcastically emphasizing "best". ", that somehow you manage to be randomly absent at the same time. Seemingly when I need you most, by the way. I'm tired of feeling dumb when I start to think you actually care before you throw it right back in my face!"

" _I'm_ sorry-" Tony cut in mockingly, taking a step forward and cocking his head to the side as his signature condescending sarcasm began to appear. "Is this about me trying to send you home, or me hurting the spider-ling's feelings?"

That was another thing about Tony. He knew just what to say to make your insides sting. Peter felt his anger taken down a notch, replaced by a buried, unwilling pain caused by Stark's comment.

"Kid... Sorry, _Mr. Parker,"_ Stark correcting making Peter roll his eyes. "I can't be babysitting. Not now. I can't-"

" _Babysitting?_ " Peter tried to talk over him. There was his temper again. "I can take care of myself. You're not my Dad, Tony!"

Stark raised his voice to shout above Peter.

"I can't risk any screw-ups on this one!"

Peter got quiet and Tony turned his eyes away. A deep pit formed in Peter's stomach. Tony knew... _He knew_ , that was a sore spot. He knew how much Peter beat himself up over the last time he truly messed up with the whole Ferry situation. Ever since then he's been extra careful, working extra hard...

"I. Just. Don't. Get. It." Peter said, his voice now quieter and through gritted teeth. "I can do _everything_ right and it's still not enough for you."

Tony didn't say anything. He was turned away from Peter, tapping his arc reactor to form his suit, save for the helmet. Meanwhile, Peter chuckled bitterly.

"I can't believe I actually thought you were telling the truth about being an Avenger..." He muttered. "Whatever it takes when you _need_ me though, right? You build me up to use me and then swat me aside when you're done. There. I figured it out. That's what this is right? You pretend you care until you don't need me any-"

"Yep, that's it, k- Peter. You cracked the code." Tony muttered sarcastically. Peter sighed, trying to let some of the bubbling in his chest reside. His eyes stung from tears of frustration that gathered along his waterlines. Peter could feel his whole body still trembling and took time to notice how tightly his arm muscles were clenched up. Taking a few more breaths, he got his body to relax a bit in silence. He hated the way his voice showed just how much his throat was closing up. He wasn't sure if he was on the brink of tears from the stinging realization that someone he thought was his close friend actually didn't give a shit, or if it was just from anger alone. Probably both. Peter kept his gaze away from Tony, not even able to stand the sight of him.

"Well, I'm glad you brought me back." Peter spat, heatedly. "I'm glad you brought me back just to discard me like a one-use, disposable-"

"Jesus, Pete. Do you want some big, extravagant welcome back party?"

Peter wanted to just plainly scream. He wanted to throw something at Tony's head. He wanted to tell him that he just wanted Stark to show him that he cared or recognized him even just a _little_ bit to prove Peter hasn't been completely taken advantage of. He wanted to tell Tony about how badly he missed him. He wanted to try to explain how much it meant for Peter not to disappoint him. There were a lot of things Peter wanted to say, but honestly, he was not beginning to realize that Stark really didn't care. Was it really all a front?

Peter felt hurt quickly replacing his anger, a lump forming in his throat. He fought and fought to keep the fury there and not to give into the aching in his chest.

All he could muster was a pained,

"Fuck you, Tony."

"Hey!" Stark shouted sternly, his eyes wide from the sudden, uncharacteristic outburst. Peter ignored him and tapped the chest of his suit, letting it slide off so that he was only in his under-armor ensemble.

"I don't want it anymore. You can save it for the next kid you pretend to give a damn about."

Stark let his shoulders slump as his face softened.

"Peter..." he said, more gently. Peter was already halfway out the door though. "Peter, hey-"

"I'm done being taken advantage of," Peter said, breathing carefully through his last words and trying not to break down. His emotions were running so high right now, it hurt. "Don't worry, you don't need to worry about me screwing everything up anymore. I'm done."

With that, Peter fully walked out, the door shutting behind him. It wasn't before Stark got one more, "Peter!" in, but he kept going... Straight through a group of people waiting outside the conference room. He guessed his yelling had probably attracted some attention.

"Pete-" Natasha reached out, putting a hand on his shoulder. Peter kept walking briskly though, feeling it slide off as he speed-walked to his room.

Opening the door, Peter took a look around. To think, he _actually_ thought he could be here, that he could be anything more than the Stark's screw-up kid. God, he felt so stupid.

Slipping on clothes over his underarmor, Peter then hurried outside to the quinjet where Coulson was waiting above the hatch.

"Sorry, I'm ready." Peter muttered quietly, sitting down and turning his gaze away from Phil. Pete sniffed and wiped away a tear quickly with the heel of his hand, thumping his fingers impatiently against his leg. The agent looked like he was about to say something, but then thought against it, and proceeded to walk back to the cockpit. Within less than a minute, they were off towards Queens.


	10. Killing Yourself to Live

**A/N: I'm sorry this one took so long. So far, I've been so confident that Tony will survive Avengers 4 and retire at the end rather than die, but upon doing more research I'm becoming really worried to the point where it's hard for me to write about him. I truthfully wouldn't be able to handle seeing him killed off. If anyone has any comments or theories regarding his fate in Avengers 4, I'd love to hear them.**

Stark felt the wall give away underneath the pressure of his iron-clad fist. _Woops_. He wished he would've calmed down for a second to realize that he was still in his suit before striking the wall in frustration. He made a mental note to fix it later.

Tony let himself detach from the suit and fall into one of the conference room chairs, his hands coming up to massage his temples and rub his eyes tiredly.

To keep a long story of sleepless nights short, Tony knew how he looked right now. The kid comes back to life and all the sudden Stark does a 180 and avoids him like the plague. Granted, he wasn't keeping as much distance as Peter thought he was. Tony was constantly checking on this kid, whether it be from across the room for a few seconds or through other Avengers. So it wasn't that he was ignoring Spider-boy- it was quite the opposite. Tony couldn't get the kid out of his head.

Stark always knew the risks of bringing Peter into this world, plus continuing to give him the resources and opportunities to stay in it. He never liked it, always directly putting him in danger. That's why he held the reigns so tightly. He was hard on the kid, he knew that. But it wasn't like he was trying to prevent bad grades on a test or speeding tickets or whatever the hell _normal_ parents had to worry about- this was life or death and technically, death already happened once. Tony would be damned before he let it happen again.

The only thing Tony could think about when he saw Peter's face was the kid's hands grasping at the back of Tony's shirt, his face pressed into his shoulder and his breaths fast and panicked. The only thing he could hear was Peter's trembling voice begging Tony to not let him go. The whole dusting just reminded Stark that Peter wasn't invincible and that death was always on the table. The kid was just 16. Peter couldn't even _drive_ yet and Stark pulled him into a position that not even the most experienced of humans should be put into.

What Tony was getting at was that this whole snap thing was like a wake-up call. There was no way he could let Peter continue, at least not now, not with Thanos. Neighborhood Spider-Man, sure. He knew Peter could handle that, but a big purple alien-demon from space with the power of the universe _literally_ in his hand... No, that was too much. That's where Tony had to draw the line.

"Hey, uh... You okay?" Rhodey's voice came from the doorway.

"Fan-fucking-tastic."

Rhodey nodded and came to sit next to Tony. It was quiet for a while until Rhodey cleared his throat.

"You know... I didn't say anything when you asked me to keep an eye out for the kid. I didn't ask why you were acting like he was a radioactive-"

"This! This is why!" Tony interrupted, trusting his hands out towards where Peter just stormed out. "I knew he wasn't going to like what I had to say."

"So you deceive him into believing he's one of us just to send him home? Tony, that's cold, man."

"What would you do?" Tony asked loudly, turning to look at Rhodey with accusing eyes. "Huh? What would you do if you were the only one standing between a kid and imminent danger? Just step aside?"

"You need to stop beating yourself up. It's not that simple. Peter's- he's- he's got a mind of his own. A _will_ of his own and a strong one too. It's not all up to you."

"Easy for everyone else to say. I brought him into this, Rhodey. _Me._ No one else."

Rhodes sighed beside him, eventually clapping a hand on Tony's back.

"Well, let's finish this mission and then worry about it. We need your head in the game, man. Now more than ever."

Tony nodded and took a deep, exhausted breath. He stood and enclosed his suit around him once more, his mind still racing from Peter's outburst. The one thing Stark _did_ feel like shit about was how harsh he was. He didn't mean most of what he said to Pete of course, but he was hoping the kid would get upset enough to give up and go home. Awful, he knew. But when it came down to hurting Peter emotionally versus letting the kid be killed physically, there wasn't any hesitation.

As Tony and Rhodey were walking out of the compound towards the aircrafts that were already loaded, Stark suddenly stopped.

"I'll be right there." He informed Rhodey, the words coming out of his mouth before he even realized they were in his head. Rhody frowned and Tony raised his phone up to show him. "Phonecall."

Tony walked to the side of the building and hit Peter's speed dial number quickly, knowing he didn't have much time and trying to get this over with before he second-guessed himself. Stark wasn't too surprised when he got the answering machine.

"Hey, this is Peter- uh, Parker. Peter Parker. Leave a message!"

"Hey, bud. Uh, okay... I'm sorry. Let's start with that. I didn't-"

 _I didn't mean it. I didn't mean any of it._

Tony's words got caught in his throat though.

"Well, why don't we talk later, huh? Just take some time with May for a bit, sit this one out. If you're up for it, I can pick you-"

Tony's phone sounded with a small tone. He glanced at it. It was May.

"Just call me back, okay?"

Tony hung up on Peter and answered May.

"Hey, I was just trying to get ahold of Peter. Have you talked to him?"

"Yes. Yes, I have." May huffed angrily on the other side. Tony frowned and cocked his head to the side in confusion. _Now_ what did he do?

"Ooookaa-"

"Listen to me, Tony Stark. I've been _ridiculously_ accommodating of this whole hero thing because I know how important it is to Peter."

Tony sighed and leaned up against the building wall.

"Mhm." He said although she didn't seem to notice in her continuous stream of ranting.

"But this is absolute madness. He's a _kid_. First I hear he's-"

"Hold on, hold on. This is why I'm sending him home. I thought that's what you wanted? It's what _I_ want."

"Then why did I just get a call from him saying that he couldn't come home quite yet?"

Tony froze.

"What?"

"What... What do you mean what? He said he had one more 'mission' because he's an Avenger now and he couldn't let the team down."

"Shit." Tony muttered under his breath. "F.R.I.D.A.Y!"

"Boss?"

"Track the Zephyr."

"Tony? Tony what's going on?" May's voice came from over the phone. Tony didn't know how to answer her. The only thing he could think about was of Peter making some impulsive decision and getting himself killed.

"Boss, the Zephyr is not currently traceable."

"How the hell did he disable his location?"

"It's not that. The aircraft is out of traceable range."

"As in..."

"It's in space, boss."

"Fuck!"

Tony raised the awareness of a few team members across the lawn but didn't care. Stark watched the screen of his phone crack a bit after realizing that he had been gripping it a little too tightly while in the suit.

"May, I'll call you back."

"Wait-"

Tony hung up and formed the Iron Man helmet. He raced to the closest aircraft, letting the phone fall to the ground, forgotten. He couldn't even count how many phones he went through in the typical week.

"Go." Tony said, not caring about his short attitude. Everyone just stood there, looking at him. _Why were they just standing there?_

He was about to snap at them again, but with just a second glance, they all hopped into action. Tony took a stuttering breath and paced. Cap and Clint stood by, watching while everyone else avoided him like the plague. He didn't blame them. Tony _knew_ he was a menace when he worried about things. That's why worrying usually wasn't his... style.

"Stark, what's up?"

Tony refused to look at Clint.

"I think... I think the kid's going to do something really stupid."

"Stupid as in..."

"As in commandeering the Zephyr and taking it straight to Thanos himself. That kind of stupid."

Tony felt his chest tighten as the words tumbled out. It was getting harder and harder to breath.

"Okay, okay. We'll get there." Cap said, stepping forward to the cockpit and murmuring something to Nat who was piloting. She nodded and punched it, the ground lurching forward underneath them. Tony just hoped it was enough.

~X~

Maybe this was a terrible idea. Then again, maybe it was a great one. That's kind of the mindset Peter liked to live by. It usually worked out in the end right? He _would_ admit that he regretted having to web Phil Coulson up, leaving him on the steps of some random church in the Bronx of all places. He'd be okay. He thinks...

"Karen, are we still on track?"

"The Zephyr has successfully synced to the route of Quinjet 427."

Peter nodded. He'd get to Thanos in no time. Not that he was planning on taking the titan alone or anything. He just wanted to do what he was meant to do in the first place- what everyone was counting on him to do. He'd web everyone up before they got there and they wouldn't have to worry about it. They'd be so surprised. Tony would be pissed at first, but then he'd get over it and be proud. That's how the cycle usually went anyway.

Peter sat back and looked out into the inky blackness of space. Last time he was out here, he died.

 _No. Don't think like that Peter._ _Head in the game. You'll be there soon._

Soon meant about seven hours, but even that was insanely impressive in simply a quinjet. To be fair, the route they mapped out went straight through a sort of black hole/portal thingy that projected them a lightyear or so... no biggie. Peter didn't exactly grasp interdimensional travel (yet), so he trusted that Thor knew what he was talking about when they crafted the plan a while back.

Proving Thor correct, later that day, Peter stepped out onto the new planet that the quinjet so expertly landed upon. He didn't know what he expected, but it wasn't this- a large expanse of fields surrounded by gorgeous landscapes. The only problem was that he had _no_ idea where to go from there.

"Karen, is there any way you can trace the stones' energy signals?"

"I've located a high density of contained power."

"Okay! Great! Where?"

"30 miles to your right."

Peter sighed. It could've been a lot worse.

~X~

"We've got eyes on the Zephyr. No sign of Peter Jr." Quill's voice came through the comms. Tony gritted his teeth from inside his helmet. _Nothing_ could be simple with this kid.

"Tony, we're going in. We'll figure it out from there." Natasha told him. She, Tony, and a good number of the rest of the gang were crouched behind a large abandoned... barn? Tony couldn't really tell and at this point, he didn't care either. At any rate, it was very different from any barn on Earth.

"Right, so... I think I know where Pete went." Hawkeye's voice carried through to everyone. He and the rest of the preliminary team that Peter was originally on had gone ahead and approached the building that the immense energy signals were coming from to check everything out and proceed as planned if possible. Tony's heart skipped a beat at these words. What did that mean? Did he find him dead? "The whole damn place is webbed up."

Tony let out the breath that he didn't realize he had been keeping captive. "But no sign of him?"

"Not that I can see. We're heading in."

The rest of the Avengers waited in silence, listening to the team slowly enter the chambers.

"Geez, he didn't leave us _anything_." Hawkeye scoffed. It sounded like he was somewhere in between humored and impressed. Tony was anything but.

"Still nothing?"

"Tony, man. Take some valium or something."

Stark was about to snap back but took a moment to hold down his impulsive anxieties.

 _The kid is okay. The kid is fine. Also, that kid is in huge fucking trouble._

Almost on cue, a scream ripped through the comms.

"Clint! Clint, you okay? What's going on?" Nat pressed. Tony felt his heart rate pick up as he allowed battle mode to take over his Iron Man helmet holograms.

"Shit..." They barely heard Barton's voice through new static over the frequencies. "Guys, we need- shit- it's- it's-"

More screaming.

"It's what? Barton?" Barnes chipped in from nearby. They all waited for the static to clear.

"Alright, let's go in," Cap said. As they all stood and were about to take off running or flying or whatever they did, the interference cleared and Clint's voice came through loud and clear...

"It's Peter."

~X~

The plan _was_ to web and withdraw, it really was. But something happened that Pete just couldn't turn away from. Thanos's voice, the same one that tore through Peter's mind late at night when his world turned dark again. It spread goosebumps along his arms and up his spine, but it wasn't just his voice that caught Peter's attention- it was the words he was saying.

"How long will it be?"

"Hours."

"They want the rest."

 _What?_

Peter crawled along the ceiling. It was strange slinking around all spider-like without his uniform. Of course, that's how it used to be initially, but Peter was so used to having the suit as a comfortable shield. He felt... vulnerable. Still, he made his way down the long hallway. To clarify, he was in a basement. The basement of an unimpressive, ordinary farm-house looking building to be specific. But once you found the passageway underground, it made more sense. Thanos basically had the equivalent of a bat cave underneath his dinky little country-shack... This guy just got less and less predictable.

"They'll get what they came for." Thanos plainly said, without a trace of concern. Peter grew closer to the voices, his eyebrows pulled together in effort as he tried his best to listen.

"And a little something extra on the side." The other voice hissed.

Peter finally reached the intersection of the hallway, taking care not to round the corner into something he couldn't handle. Peter gently dropped to the floor and peered around the wall, catching view of the giant purple titan with his arm outstretched, admiring the two stones still remaining in his gauntlet. With a pang of terror, Peter realized that it was in better shape than the last time he saw it. He wondered if he got to "Nidavellir" as Thor called it.

"Put these in the repository, out of sight," Thanos commanded, slipping the stones out of the gauntlet and into a small, gold case. He then reached over somewhere out of Peter's field of vision. Thanos's hand returned with two more stones, identical to the first. Were those... fakes?

"You aren't concerned?" The voice asked.

"This is just a... setback. An insignificant snag of a wider purpose."

Peter watched the stones set into the gauntlet. Even from where he stood he could sense that they weren't right- that there was no power there, but in the heat of a battle, would the Avengers know? Was that the point? Did Thanos know they were coming? How?

The sound of footsteps sent Peter scrambling up the wall onto the ceiling again.

"After you secure the gems, gather reinforcements. We want to be ready to give our guests a warm welcome."

"As you wish."

Peter moved across the cold rock surface until he disappeared into a dark nook where he was cloaked in shadow. The last words rang in his ears. They had planned everything out so well, and none of it mattered. Thanos _knew_. He knew, and he was ready. With pseudo stones and an army no less.

Peter flattened himself against the ceiling as the second being emerged and made its way down the hallway. He felt his heart beating out of his chest as he turned his face away from the corridor as if it would help. He also wasn't sure he wanted to see whatever was servicing Thanos. They had a track record of reminding him of the most terrifying monsters from the old sci-fi movies he'd watch with his Dad- the very same movies that kept him up with nightmares and fears of creatures in his closet when he was little. Now he wasn't afraid of the movies and it wasn't people in makeup that he imagined popping out from under his bed... It was real life. It was _these_ things.

Peter breathed steadily so to not draw attention to himself as he formulated a plan in his head. He'd wait in his little corner for a while longer and listen for all sounds to fade until he knew it was safe... or safe enough. Then he'd follow the same path that he just heard the footsteps take down to the "repository". He'd find the real stones and get the hell out of there before the Avengers could even arrive. Thanos thought he thwarted their plan, but Peter just thwarted the plan that he planned to thwart the Avengers plan in the first place so... he triple thwarted him.

Suddenly in a hurry when Pete realized that they'd soon find a bunch of their men contained in webs on the first floor, Peter turned from the wall to start down the hallway... right into the snarling face of Thanos.

Peter gasped. Every thought escaped his head, every breath escaped his lungs, and every beat escaped his heart.

"Uh... It's a... It's a nice place you've got here."

Peter barely wheezed out.

"You haven't even seen the best part." Thanos growled in a low voice, nearly a whisper. He reached up a hand and Peter flinched, squeezing his eyes shut and gripping onto the stones of the ceiling for dear life. This was it. He was dead.

Thanos placed a hand on the back of Peter's neck. His breaths were short and choppy now as if he had a limited air supply to survive on and it was running out fast. Peter kept his eyes shut. He couldn't look into those menacing eyes- at that looming smile that promised agony. As Peter grew older he always thought it was silly that he was ever scared of monsters like those from the movies. Now he knew that he was silly for not being _more_ frightened because Thanos was worse than anything he could've ever fathomed.

"Let me give you the grand tour."

Peter felt two giant fingers on either side of his neck. This guy's hand was so big that he could crush Peter's head like a grape. He felt sick. God, he was so stupid for coming here. Tony was right- he screwed up.

Before Peter could get too wrapped up in his self-pity, the hand gripped him painfully tight and all but plucked him from where he stuck upside down. There was hardly a moment when Peter knew that dying right there would be better that anything that could've followed... well, actually... there was only one moment. This was that moment.

~X~

"Pete!"

Tony had no idea what he was doing. His body was acting for him. As soon as Hawkeye identified who the screaming was coming from, he took off in the suit and was inside the house in a mere second, the rest of the Avengers forced to follow behind.

"Stark, wait!"

Tony smashed through a line of ugly alien warriors that guarded the entrance to what looked like a cellar. He shot past Clint and Sam and whoever else was down there until he could hear it in person- that sound. That expression of torment that twisted Tony's insides.

"Kid!"

Tony heard a whimper of a response. Stepping into an expansive chamber, it took everything not to charge Thanos right there. He held Peter up, the kid's entire torso enclosed only in one of Thanos's meaty hands. Peter's eyes were wild with fear and panic. He squirmed against the titan's grasp but it barely phased the giant lump of purple mass.

"Pete... Pete, hey. Eyes on me." Tony called out from across the room as he cautiously approached. Tony let his helmet "melt" away so he could come face to face with Peter- or rather face to face while about a hundred feet away. Still, the boy registered Tony's voice and stopped his exhaustive and rather meaningless efforts. Pete's eyes looked at Tony's- they _begged_ for him to do something, to stop the pain Thanos was causing him. Peter's hair was disheveled, strands falling over his face. Even from the distance that kept them apart, Tony could see him trembling.

It broke him. It flat out broke him. This was his fault and there was no denying that at this point.

"Just relax, bud. What the hell do you want, periwinkle?"

"You know what I want." Thanos sneered. It was true- Tony did know what he wanted.

"Trust me, I want to. I really do." Tony said sarcastically, stepping forward one small movement at a time. "But, you really think we'd bring the stones with us?"

Thanos smiled at this, paired with a notable squeeze to Peter's body. Tony watched as the kid's face twisted in pain. His head fell forward and a scream ripped from his body.

"Okay, okay! Enough!" Tony shouted until Thanos let up. Peter was left breathing heavily, slumped in the titan's grasp.

"Mr. Stark..." he croaked, turning his water brimmed eyes to Tony once again. "Space, soul..." He tried to gasp through sharp breaths. Tony regretfully imagined that there were already broken ribs involved. "...a gold case down the hall in a store roo- ahhhh!" Peter cried out with another crush to his torso. He was left gasping and sputtering when all was said and done. Tony winced when he watched Pete cough up a good amount of blood.

"Copy." Tony heard a voice over his earpiece say, confirming hearing Peter's tip through the radio. "Tony, what's the situation. Can we send more in or-"

"No." Tony shut them down. He didn't even know who was talking. Then, "Peter, listen to me. Let's focus on you right now, alright?"

"Stark, let's cut to the chase here before your little bug-buddie gets squashed."

For emphasis, Thanos caused a cracking sound to fill the air between them. Peter screamed and pushed at the giant purple fingers shattering his bones to no avail.

"Alright! Reality stone. Here. Take it." Tony let his right iron glove fall away revealing the reality stone in the ring on his hand. He watched Peter's face the whole time. The kid had turned his eyes back up, and it was then when Tony realized that they weren't begging Stark for help, they were begging him for forgiveness. Guilt. Peter looked ridden with guilt. He mouthed the word 'no' at Stark which Tony actively ignored. He knew Peter didn't want to be responsible for this, but one single stone versus Pete's life...

It didn't matter anyway, because it looked like Peter had a different idea. Through heavy-lidded, exhausted eyes, Peter stared at Tony. His arm raised with what appeared to be great effort as he formed his signature hand structure like he was about to shoot web. The subtle shaking of Peter's body turned into seizure-like jolts as he struggled to breathe against broken bones against his lungs, but he still managed to get his arm stretched out towards Tony, middle and ring forward bent down, thumb over-top... What was he _doing_?

"Pete..."

It seemed Thanos was perplexed as well. He dug his giant thumb into Peter's chest to stop the kid from whatever he was doing, but Parker screamed through the pain and shot a string of web straight for Stark. It was then when Tony got it. He was trying to catch the hand that Tony had outstretched with the infinity ring.

Tony used his other hand, the one still enclosed in the suit, to blast the web into nothing. He wasn't fast enough for Peter's second web though, and before he knew it, Stark's hand was tightly bound in the sticky spindles.

"God... Damn it, Pete!"

Peter could only go limp in response. His head lolled forward, blood still fresh on his lips. Thanos was basically holding a rag doll at this point.

"Stark, I'd be thinking of getting those other stones in here right about now." Thanos mused as Tony desperately pulled at the webs imprisoning his hand and the reality stone.

"Tony, what do you need?" Rhodey's voice came through, covered in a light blanket of static.

"Leverage, a stone, something... I don't know!"

Tony was panicking to say the very least. It wasn't helping that the Earth around them was beginning to tremble for unrelated purposes. Stark had no idea what his team was up to out there, but it didn't sound pretty. Smalls rocks started raining down from the ceilings. Peter's face turned upwards to look at the damage. Tony added the ceiling collapsing to the list of worries he had at the moment.

"I'm on my way with the power stone, Tony." Cap assured him.

"Rogers is on the way with the power stone so just... keep your damn shirt on."

"No..." Peter weakly croaked, his voice unrecognizable.

"Pete, just..."

"I'm sorry, Mr. Stark." He gasped through deep, stuttering breaths. Tony's chest tightened as he slowed his efforts on the web and looked up at the kid- the kid that he brought into this life, the kid that he then tried to rip from the very same lifestyle which landed him here, choking on his own blood and fighting on the brink of death.

"You have nothing to be sorry about. Enough with the webs though, okay? Let us handle this." Tony tried to say, but he wasn't sure that Peter was even hearing him. The kid just kept talking right over Stark.

"I can't mess up again. I can't- I won't..."

And with that, Peter just barely raised his hand and shot web straight at Tony, catching the same hand and sticking Stark to the wall behind him. Before Tony could even react, Peter shot another strand up to the ceiling. He did the same with the other hand until his arms were both raised above him, each one gripping onto a length of web stuck to the ceiling. Stark watched Peter's arms tremble- if the kid wasn't wearing a sweatshirt, he was sure that his bicep muscles would be visibly bulging with effort too. Great. He was trying to bring down the ceiling. Shit, Tony was sick of all the "self-sacrificing heroics" around here lately.

Everything was happening simultaneously. Cap was fighting his way into the area, Tony was just barely tearing at the web holding him back, and Peter was actually succeeding in pulling giant slabs of ceiling lose despite his lack of strength. To make things worse, Thanos crushed Peter further, trying to pull his grip from the ceiling. His screams echoed throughout the entire basement, clouding Stark's judgment even further.

The last resort arrived in Tony's mind, and he welcomed it with open arms. He had no idea what he was doing, but if there was ever a time to wing it, it was now. Stark felt the ring on his finger underneath all of the synthetic strings and strands. Squeezing his eyes shut, Tony let his subconscious come through and hoped that it was enough. It wasn't long before he felt overcome with the strangest sensation he's ever felt in his life. It was terrifying in the sense that he felt overpowered with a strength he couldn't even begin to understand, but also... empowering at the same time, like he was split two ways. He didn't know who was submitting to whom... Him or the stone, but either way, it was working.

Thanos cried out in rage, dropping Peter to the ground and spinning around towards something that the rest of them couldn't see. Tony didn't take time to sit and observe. He turned back to his hand caught on the wall and tried to think as Cap took initiative to blast Thanos backward with a burst from the power stone. Tony let him take care of Thanos for the moment while he gathered a solution.

 _Okay, this will hurt like a bitch, but here we go._

Tony activated his laser on his left hand and took a deep breath before shooting it at his right. The heat immediately hit, burning his skin through the webs. Tony gritted his teeth together and tried not to scream in pain. A few short seconds was enough for him to break free, and within even a fraction of that, Stark was at Peter's side.

"Pete! Peter?" Tony tentatively approached, reminding him of a similar situation at the airport fight against Cap and the crew however many years ago; crouching down over the kid's lifeless body, terrified that that was the end for him. This was a little different, though. This time Tony _knew_ that there was a better chance of Peter dying rather than living.

Stark gently turned the kid on his back as Peter convulsed, eyes rolling up into his head before they closed. His body was taken over by his choking attempts at breathing. Blood trickled from Peter's mouth and Tony quickly helped turn him on his side again so that he could cough it up. Peter whimpered every time Tony touched him, shrinking away from the contact. Stark couldn't imagine the pain he was feeling right then.

"Get me Banner!" Tony yelled to no one in particular. "Does anyone copy?"

"Almost there."

"Nat is bringing the jet over!"

"The basement is clear."

"Someone call Shuri and tell her to get ready for a medical emergency!"

"Setting navigation for Wakanda."

"What's the 20 on space and soul?"

Plenty of voices were rushing over the coms, but Tony was drowning them all out. With what, he did not know. He didn't even feel like he was thinking anything at the moment. He just felt like his head was filled with static- static and the sound of Peter dying in front of him.

A lot happened from that point, but Stark didn't really recognize the concept of time. At one point, Banner arrived at his side, turning Peter over and gently prodding at the kid's ribs, followed by more screams. Sometime later, a loud whir sounded overhead that caused the basement to tremble further. They carried Pete out of the dungeon-like cellar into the blinding sun that sent a headache splitting through Tony's mind.

Once on what looked to actually be the Zephyr, they gently laid Peter on the ground per Banner's request. Tony and Bruce kneeled by the kid's side and ever so gently took off his zip-up sweatshirt, but even that extracted whimpers of protest from the boy. Laying him back down, Banner carefully raised Pete's "Blade Runner" shirt to expose his bare chest and christ almighty, was it an unnatural sight. There were lumps and protrusions across where Pete's rib cage should be, bones scrambled in what looked like an agonizing mess.

"Tony. Tony! Anthony Edward Stark, I kind of need you here!" Banner tried snapping him out of it. Tony hadn't even realized he was just staring at the kid in terror, somewhere on the brink of a panic attack. He couldn't do that now though, he had to be there for the kid especially since he wasn't before.

"Okay, okay..." Tony said, inching closer to Peter's thrashing body.

"I need you to calm him down. Just get him to still as much as he can."

Peter jolted and shuttered all at the same time. He was desperately trying to breathe with lungs that were undoubtedly filled with blood. How do you calm someone down from that?

"Pete. Pete hey, look. It's me."

Tony reached forward hesitantly and touched Peter's shoulder, causing him to jump. Peter's eyes turned towards Stark. The fear behind them was unmistakable.

"I need you to calm down a bit, okay? So Brucie over here can take a look at ya."

"It's bad, Tony. He's got at least a couple punctures in the lungs caused by a break in vertebrosternal 5 and 7."

"Well, can you do something about it?"

"I can try snapping the ribs back or at least so they aren't continuing to dig into-"

"Okay, do that!"

"It's dangerous, Tony. Without methods of surgically going in there to close the lacerations in the lungs, he could bleed faster-"

"Fuck. I don't know, just do something!" Tony shouted, turning his eyes back to Peter's that were now locked on him like Tony was his very last lifeline. Tony kept a hand on Pete's shoulder to remind him to try keeping as sedentary as he could manage.

"He heals faster than normal, right?"

"About 4.7 times faster than average, yes."

"Alright... Well he can't if there are bones penetrating the bronchi so..."

Banner thought in silence beside them, biting his lip.

"Okay, see these?"

Banner motions to two bulges on the kid's torso. Tony frowned and nodded.

"I'm going to re-set them and we'll go from there."

"No! No, no, no, no..." Peter complained, his breaths growing wilder and desperate. The poor kid was trying to weep, but it looked like even that was too punishing a task. It just came out in sniveling gasps of air. "Please..."

"You'll be okay, kid." Stark tried to soothe.

Tony didn't know where his new-found tranquil and assertive demeanor came from. Maybe it was seeing Peter's panic that made his body subconsciously feel the need to balance it.

"Here, just squeeze my hand if you need to. Isn't that what people do?" Tony slipped off the infinity ring and held it behind him where he knew lots of people who he was actively ignoring stood. He felt small hands take it, guessing it was Wanda since Nat was driving. Then, Stark held out his own hand towards Peter's quivering one, waiting for him to take it.

"Yeah, when- when- when you get a shot or- or something..." Peter stuttered, squeezing his eyes shut while trying to focus on forming words. "Not when someone is moving your ribs around!"

"No need to be cranky." Tony mused, trying anything to distract Peter. It at least succeeded in earning a dirty look from the kid. Still, Parker refused to make any movement towards Stark, his eyebrows pulled together in as much anger as he could manage through the pain.

"Come on, Pete. Are you _still_ pissed at me? Can it wait until you're not drowning in your own blood? Jesus, I thought _I_ could hold a grudge."

Peter looked like he was about to answer but with a jolt, a scream broke from the kid instead. His back arched off the ground and _damn_ was that the most gruesome noise that Tony has ever heard. It scared him nearly to death to be honest. Once it was over, Stark shot a look toward Banner who took his fingers from the boy's chest where he just pushed down on one of the bones.

"No warning, Doc?" Tony accused sarcastically.

"I don't have time for your guys's poorly timed bickering. I thought it was better to just-"

"Stop, stop..." Peter tiredly begged, tears fresh in his eyes. "I can't- I can't..."

The kid sure as hell was holding Tony's hand now, gripping it for dear life.

"Yes, you can Pete."

"No-"

" _Yes._ Because you have to." Tony instructed more forcefully. Peter closed his eyes and tried to hold back sobs. Tony softened. "Hey, what'd I say? Eyes on me, kid. Can I call you kid again or is that still off the table?"

Peter looked at him with glossy orbs that held both terror and anger.

"Whatever."

"If it bothers you-"

"It's not _that,_ that- ah, ah- No, no, I'm not ready..." Peter interrupted himself. It didn't matter. Banner pushed on the bone again and Peter screamed, compressing Tony's hand on the brink of shattering Stark's own bones.

"Ah- ah, okay. Forgot about the super strength. Here." Tony offered after Peter was done screaming and rather was left panting and sweating, his body racked with choked sobs. Stark pulled his bare hand away and let Peter grasp the one that was still "suited-up". Meanwhile, Tony shook out the one Peter nearly crushed. The kid gladly took his other hand, squeezing it tight enough to start denting the armor. Damn, Stark always forgot how unnaturally strong he was. "And I know what bothers you, Pete, and I'm sorry. Okay?"

"No you're n- not."

"Yes. I am. I shouldn't have ignored you the last couple of days. I shouldn't have gone behind your back. I shouldn't have said all those things."

As Tony listed off his regrets, the boy's chest slowed with the frantic rising and falling a bit. His eyes focused in on Tony's meaningfully, truly taking in the words Stark was saying.

"I don't have a- a lot of pe- people, you know?" Peter sniffled, his eyes occasionally flickering to Banner to see if he was going to catch him in another surprise push to the ribs. "I thought that I- I just thought- I was more than a strategy for you to use when-"

"No, no... God, no, Pete. That's not it."

"Then why-"

"Listen, I know I can be-"

"An asshole."

"Yes, yes okay. That's fair. But you've got to understand where I'm coming from. I bring a kid into-"

"But I'm not-"

"Okay, 16-year-old adult. How's that? Pete, I brought you into this superhero shit show for just a moment and things go spiraling out of control and before I know it, you're being crushed to a pulp in the hand of a giant purple alien. How am I _not_ supposed to feel responsible for that?"

Peter was quiet. Well... quiet save for his labored breathing.

"I'm hard on you because I'm terrified... of this, quite frankly."

More silence... then screaming.

Tony jumped and held his breath against the pain of the suit caving in on his hand as Peter gripped it tightly. This time the pain was so bad for the kid that Tony had to hold him down with his other hand on his shoulder. Eventually he calmed down again.

"I'm- I'm sick of the back and forth, T- Tony. It's getting old."

"Okay, agreed."

"And I can make- ah, ow, ow, ow- I can make my own decisions."

"For the most part."

"And I don't expect a- a parade or wha- whatever, but-"

"I didn't mean that, Pete."

"Then why did you- did you, ow!"

"Sorry." Banner chimed in. Tony sighed.

"I didn't mean most of what I said back at the compound. That was uncalled for. You just caught me off guard and I was hoping you'd be pissed enough to go home."

Tony happened to glance over in time to see Banner gently push on another protrusion. Peter tensed and groaned.

"I didn't expect this though..." Tony muttered, rolling his eyes at himself.

"That's really shitty. You realize that, right?"

"Yeah, yeah... I'm sorry, kid."

Peter had his eyes closed again. His jagged movements had slowed but he was still having obvious troubles breathing. Occasionally he'd have to turn and cough up more blood. Tony wasn't sure that he liked the lethargy. He didn't think it was necessarily a good sign.

"It didn't help holding you in my arms while you disintegrated into dust, you know."

Peter seemed to think about that.

"After you were gone, I- Peter, I don't think the world would've been fixed if it wasn't you that kept me going."

More silence.

"There. You made me sound like a Lifetime Movie, how's that?"

That brought just a flicker of a smile to Peter's face.

"I'm s-" Peter was overcome with a coughing fit followed by more blood. "I'm sorry, too. I uh- I don't know why I blew up so much."

"Yeah, heavens to Betsy, Pete. Remind me never to test those waters again. I didn't know you had all that in you. Christ."

Peter chuckled and then groaned from the consequences. "Sorry."

"Well deserved, I guess."

Peter smiled weakly but genuinely and looked over at Tony.

"You _are_ a helicopter parent though."

Tony smiled and nodded.

"Whatever you say."

Peter's smile faded. "And when I- I- said you aren't my D- Dad-"

"You know I'm not trying to-"

"No, I know, I know. I was just going to- to say that you're the closest thing I- I've had since Ben died."

Wow. Tony didn't quite know how to respond to that one.

"I just mean that... That you're not overstepping or anything." Peter stuttered out awkwardly. Tony gave the kid a half smile. It was quiet except for the slight wheezing noise from Peter and the hum of the jet.

"Alright, what about this. We don't split up anymore. I won't try to force you to go home and you don't run off and try to take on carcinogenic alien beings alone anymore. And total honesty from now on."

"I didn't mean to take on Thanos. I just-"

"I know, bud..." Then, "So May's going to murder me, but how about you stay at the compound for a while longer? The team could use it's new initiate."

Peter nodded and coughed up more blood. It took him a bit to recompose himself before he turned tired, but happy eyes to Tony.

"Yeah, that sounds good."

Tony nodded and looked up at Banner who looked displeased.

"It's all I can do for now. Nat?"

"We still have hours."

Banner looked up at Tony worriedly.

"That's not good enough." He said in a low voice.

"Maybe I can help, then." Thor stepped forward from the living room of the Zephyr where a good number of Avengers sat. He approached them, towering high enough to have to bend his head down a little to avoid hitting the ceiling of the jet. Reaching into a pocket underneath his armor, he pulled out a small pouch. Thor opened it gently and held his hand to the gap. Tony noticed the empty infinity ring on his hand. It wasn't vacant for long though. With a snap, the space stone hurdled out of the pouch and onto the ring.

"Let's get you to Wakanda."


	11. Symptom of the Universe

Peter and Shuri hit it off right away. To be fair, they spent a good amount of time together as she repaired each one of his ribs one by one. It was nice to have someone his age around- not to mention, she always kept him laughing. Maybe that wasn't such a good thing with a broken ribcage...

"Woah..." Peter said in amazement as he looked up at the hologram projection of his healing ribs above him. He lied on a table in the medical bay in T'Challa's palace. In just a couple weeks, he had been on three different planets, an alien spaceship, and a secret, highly advanced African kingdom. Sure it's been tough with the dying and torture and stuff, but overall, a pretty cool month.

Anyway, Shuri had just finished explaining to him how their state-of-the-art healing methods and machines worked. He'd admit that he didn't 100% understand, but what he did was mind-blowing.

"So you should be sore for a couple days, but by the end of the week, it should feel like nothing happened." Shuri said proudly, swiping the holograms back into her bracelet. Peter sat up tentatively and twisted his torso from side to side as much as the pain would allow him. It was just a dull throb though. Nothing seemed bad after what he had felt yesterday.

"So this is just an average Wednesday for you? Healing some shattered ribs and then what, engineering spaceships and stuff?"

Shuri smiled. "I actually don't get as much practice with medical sciences as you might think."

"Comforting." Peter smiled too.

"I do have a collection of all kinds of vessels that I designed myself. I can give you a tour later."

"I- Yeah, that'd be so cool!"

"And it's Friday!" She called back as she walked away. On her way out, Tony walked in, his hand bandaged up. Peter felt bad for leading Tony to resort to burning his own skin to remove the webs enclosing the infinity ring. They had agreed to just cancel out all of the guilt from the past couple days though, so he tried to take a deep breath and move on.

"Yes?" F.R.I.D.A.Y.'s voice came over Tony's watch.

"Not you," Stark said, greeting Shuri as he passed. Then, "How you feelin', spidey?"

"A lot better," Peter said truthfully. "Can you believe that they can just... _do_ that? Heal people like that?"

Tony's eyebrows raised as he looked around the room, unimpressed.

"Yeah. Pretty amazing." He said, making Peter laugh. Tony swung around to shoot Peter a questioning look.

"You're jealous." Peter realized.

"Jealousy is not in the Stark vocabulary, kid."

Peter got up and put his jacket over the Wakandan hospital uniform he was wearing.

"You know, if you had unlimited vibranium, you'd be just as good, Mr. Stark." Peter assured him, a wide, amused smile still clear on his face as they began to exit.

"Iiiiimplying that I'm not now?"

"I didn't say that."

"You might as well have. Give a guy a renewed set of ribs and he thinks he's top drawer." Tony joked, playfully nudging Peter.

"Ow..." Peter chuckled, holding his side.

"Ready to go home? The team's worried about ya."

Peter grinned but hid it from Tony. He loved that Tony could refer to the compound as Peter's home too. Of course, his true home would always be in Queens with May, but who said you could have two?

"Yeah. I'm ready."

It wasn't long for the compound to erupt with life again. It was similar to how it was before the space-soul mission, except about a billion times better seeing as Tony wasn't actively avoiding him and making Peter feel on edge all the time. A night after they returned from Wakanda, Peter was watching "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid" in his room with Natasha, Thor, Sam and Quill when Tony knocked on the door and popped his head in.

"Glad to see we're all being proactive while Thanos is still prancing around the universe." He jabbed, although there was no real accusation behind it. Everyone knew how hard they worked during the day, whether it be from studying the stones, training for Thanos-specific situations, and even doing a few out-reach missions to restore order around the confused Earth once and while... And this was just in the past day.

"Woah, woah, woah... Dude. You're interrupting Etta! You don't interrupt Etta!" Quill complained, motioning to the attractive lead actress on screen. Tony looked to be at the epitome of unamused.

"Pete, have a moment?"

Peter nodded and carefully stepped over the people and bowls of popcorn on the floor. Wow. He was kind of hosting an Avengers movie night... Wow.

"What's up?"

"How is everything? How's your room? Need any more movies or-"

"No, no." Peter laughed lightly. "I think it'll take me a lifetime to get through all of those. Everything is great. Thank you."

"How are the ribs?"

"I barely notice 'em."

"Good. That's what I like to hear. Listen, Bruce and I could use your help on a project. You think you'd be interested?"

Peter's face lit up.

"Uh, yeah, yeah! I can do that. Is it with the- with the stones and Thanos-"

"Well not quite."

Tony led him into the large lab that hardly anyone touched other than Stark and Banner. Peter had observed in awe from afar before and would've done anything to just play around with all of the equipment like his personal Disneyland, but there had been that whole "Mr. Stark is avoiding me" stage that kept the lab and all out of reach. But man, the _toys_ around this place.

"By the way- not toys, kiddo." Tony pointed out strictly as if he could read Peter's eager thoughts and excitement.

"I know, I know. Wait-" Peter uttered, making his way across the floor and sidestepping weird contraptions that he wasn't even going to begin to try and define. He made his way to a case where the five infinity stones were suspended midair- that's right, _five_. Where was the sixth?

"Pete, come on. Stay with the class, please." Tony urged, waving Peter over to where he was scanning his fingerprint onto a small screen on the wall. With a whirr, a panel slid open, revealing a whole, secret... _lair_. Really, it was just an extension of the lab, but anything behind a secret wall thrilled Pete's imagination.

"Ay, there he is." Banner said, who was hunched over a desk, glasses stooped low on the bride of his nose. Peter took a good guess about what he was studying.

"Hey." Peter greeted with a small chuckle. "Um, so... Why do you have the-" Peter stretched to see what color the gem was. "-the mind stone holed up back here?"

"Excellent question, itsy bitsy."

Peter rolled his eyes at the nickname. How was he _still_ cranking them out so seamlessly?

"Tony, I think we should reach out-"

"No, no, no-"

"Shuri could help us get past the polymorphic stage. "Reprogram to have the synapsis to world collectively,"

"...work collectively." Tony finished with Banner. "Yeah, I remember. But, we've got this."

"Uh- got what?" Peter cut in, his head snapping back and forth trying to follow their conversation. Tony sighed and let his head tip to the side to look at Peter.

"Welllll. Miss Wanda up there has got a birthday coming up so Banner and I have been... workin' on a little something in terms of a gift I guess you could say."

Banner and Tony both watched Peter as if they were waiting for him to catch on. He got the whole wanting to do something nice for Wanda. She had been pulled into a deep depression ever since...

"Vision..." Peter realized. It looked as if Tony couldn't help the excited smile spread on his lips. Peter knew that light in his eyes. It was always apparent when he was enthralled with a new idea or project. They looked at Peter with intent as if to say, ' _So... What do you think?'._

"But... Okay, how? I thought J.A.R.V.I.S was gone and-"

"Yeah, logistics are a little skewed at the moment. But really, we have the two things that really made the magic happen."

Peter shot Tony a confused look who rolled his eyes and pointed at Banner and himself.

"Oh... But, it wouldn't be the same, would it? I mean he wouldn't have the experiences or memories or the voice?"

Tony sighed and sat in one of the spinny-rolly stools by the counter on the wall.

"Yeah, yeah... But amnesia Vision versus dead vision..." Tony raised his hands as if he was weighing his options.

"Point taken." Peter said. It was weird to wrap his head around, but it was exciting. This was unparalleled to anything he's ever dreamed of doing before, and if it helped Wanda and everyone else affected by the loss of Vision, then...

"So, what do you say? You wanna join the science bro boy band?"

Peter beamed back at Tony. He was pretty sure both Stark and Banner knew the clear answer to that.

~X~

Darkness. Deep, swallowing, unforgiving darkness. And it was something Peter knew all too well. It wasn't like the inky blackness you saw when you laid down and closed your eyes to sleep. It wasn't like the darkness of the sky at night- stretching on forever with promises of new, undiscovered wonderment. No, this was the worst type imaginable. This was the life-death twilight limbo that Peter had spent what felt like an eternity trapped within. This is where everything he desired, every person he loved, every human experience was just barely out of his grasp and out of his control. It was suffocating.

That's probably why Peter woke fighting to suck in air. He was trembling uncontrollably from head to toe and his heart was pounding in his ears. Peter hated that feeling in his chest, like it constrained by bound ropes that just kept getting tighter and tighter. He needed to get the hell out of his room.

Peter projected himself out of bed and frantically burst into the hallway. He ran shaking hands through his hair and nervously tapped his fingers on the side of his pajama pants while pacing.

"I said get them up!" A voice slurred, nearly scaring the shit out of Peter. He whipped around towards Natasha's room where the door was ajar. Pete peeked his head in and squinted to see her dark form in bed in the dark. She turned over and mumbled more gibberish in her sleep. Peter chuckled and gently closed the door so that his anxious freak-out session wouldn't wake her from whatever dream she was having.

Once Peter calmed down a bit, he found himself walking down to the kitchen... Well, he slinked along the walls and ceiling to the kitchen. Something about being up there made him feel like nothing could touch him.

So there he stuck to the ceiling in the kitchen, slowly making his way toward the fridge and testing how well he could reach down and open it upside down.

"How the view from up there?"

Peter yelped and lost concentration, feeling his fingers slip for the surface above him. Luckily his spider reflexes kicked in and he spun fast enough to land in a crouch on his feet.

"Ooooh, sorry." The voice said. Peter let his eyes adjust and used the blue moonlight seeping in from the large window to make out Cap's features.

"It- it's okay, I just didn't see you."

"Couldn't sleep?"

"Nah..." Peter shook out his hair and leaned against the counter awkwardly. He didn't quite know the etiquette when caught hanging on the kitchen ceiling at 2am by Captain America. "...you?"

Cap smiled sadly and reached forward toward the wall from where he sat on a kitchen stool. He flipped on a dim light, softly illuminating the room. "Nah..." He mimicked Peter. His face looked at him kindly and with sympathy. "Rough week for you, huh?"

"A bit." Peter said sarcastically, crossing his arms over his chest. He looked down and shuffled his feet. "Nothing I can't handle. That's kind of the job, right?"

Cap pursed his lips and shrugged his shoulders. "Yeah, yeah..."

It was quiet for a bit before Peter spoke up.

"I- I shouldn't complain anyway. I mean, next to what some of you have been through-"

"Hey, don't worry. It's not a competition." Cap said with an amused smirk. Peter smiled and rolled his eyes at himself.

"Yeah, yeah. I know. It's just… I don't know, I kind of feel like I'm out of my league here."

Cap kept his smirk and nodded, sitting back in his chair and sighing.

"I don't know. Fighting Thanos on an alien planet and getting turned to dust is one hell of an initiation. Can't say that I personally can cross that one off my bucket list."

Peter couldn't help but smile at that. He guessed it was kind of cool. He had been to a whole other planet, Thanos's planet, which was something even the Captain America couldn't even say he has done. But then…

Peter's smile faded. He pulled himself up to sit on the counter's edge. Pete was aware of Cap's eyes on him, filled with concern but reluctance to pry.

"Peter."

Peter turned his eyes up hesitantly. He didn't want to seem vulnerable in front of Captain America. Heck, he was still intimidated from just being in the same room as the guy. When he saw his face though, it was filled with kindness and empathy and suddenly Steve Rogers was not so daunting anymore.

"It's okay to not be okay." Steve said calmly. "Those of us that have been in this business for a while, well… we just get better at hiding it. That doesn't mean that we aren't still wide awake through the nights or that we aren't constantly terrified of what has passed or is yet to have passed."

Peter swallowed thickly and nodded. He didn't quite know the right response to that, but he appreciated Cap telling him. It did seem like everyone but him had their mentalities under control, but the more Peter thought about it, no one in their right mind would be 100% okay with what they had to deal with.

"Exhibit A." Cap continued when Peter didn't answer. "I can't stop dreaming that I'm back in World War II."

Peter raised his eyebrows. He had never heard Steve talk about his WWII life.

"That's nothing, though. I always dream that I'm back in the forties again. It doesn't bother me. But now… I'm breaking down the enemy barricade, everyone at my side. My team, Peggy, Bucky… Only when I look over," Cap paused, his eyes unfocused as if he was experiencing the dream all over again. Peter leaned forward in anticipation. ", they all turn to dust."

Peter turned his eyes down and thought about that. He never thought that Captain America would be getting so personal with him at 2am in the Avengers Compound kitchen. There they were though, and Pete was grateful that Steve trusted him enough to share.

"The worst part is that when I wake up, they all might as well be dust… Yeah, depressing, I know." Cap scoffed and nodded sadly.

"Well… Except Mr. Barnes." Peter said, trying to make light of the heavy atmosphere. Cap smiled genuinely.

"Yeah. Can't seem to get rid of him." He joked.

The room was quiet again. Peter knew this was the part where he told Cap why he himself was awake in the twilight of night, but he couldn't find the words right away. Steve didn't seem to be in a hurry though. He just took a sip of whatever was in his mug and waited patiently.

"I um… It's not so much a vivid dream or anything. It's just- just the darkness." Peter stuttered out. Cap raised an eyebrow at him curiously and Peter took a deep breath before telling him everything about what he experienced after the dusting, how his body and thoughts didn't even feel like his own, and how often he'd feel like he was back in that state or worse… that he never even left at all.

"It just gets to the point where I'm not even sure if I'm actually still in that void and just dreaming of this, of real life." Peter finished. Steve nodded and sighed, getting up from his chair to walk to the sink and rinse out his cup.

"It'll get better, Peter. I promise. You shouldn't keep these things to yourself though. Believe me- confiding in someone you trust is huge. I'm still working on that part myself."

Peter nodded and swung his feet back and forth in the air as they hung over the counter.

"Which by the way, I'm always here. My door is always open. I know that we haven't known each other too long. Not to mention, our first meeting wasn't exactly ideal…"

"I don't know, I had fun." Peter mused, earning a chuckle from Steve.

"I hate to pry in whatever relationship you have with him, but have you talked to Tony?"

Peter shrugged.

"I didn't really have the chance before. He was being kind of…" Peter trailed off, looking for the nice way to put it.

"Yeah, he can do that." Steve said, cocking his eyebrow. "Stark is a handful. I'd like to venture to say that no one understands that like I do. But I also understand how good of a person he is, no matter how his intentions come off. He cares more than anyone could know, even if it doesn't show that way."

"Yeah… I know…" Peter said unsurely. And he did know. He knew Tony was an asshole, but an asshole who cared more than anyone Peter knew. Yeah, him and Mr. Stark figured out their whole emotional divide after Peter had nearly been killed by Thanos, but sometimes it was hard to be completely certain of where Peter stood in Tony's eyes. "He just… I don't know, he makes it hard to… exist near him sometimes."

Cap outright laughed at that. Peter held out his hand.

"Wait, wait. That came out wrong."

"I know what you mean." Steve assured him. Cap leaned back on the countertop across from Peter and kept his gaze. "But listen, kid. Don't doubt the lengths that Tony will go for you. I've known Stark for a while and through some pretty heinous stuff, so I do know him to an extent. I could tell right away that he liked you from the get-go and believe me, that never happens."

Peter was yet again without words.

"He wouldn't ever tell you the full extent of it, but he went crazy after you were gone. Heck, he goes crazy even when you're here. He's constantly worried about you and to be honest, I can't blame him. It's nothing against you or what you can or can't do, it's just a lot of responsibility to bring someone else into this chaos."

Peter nodded. He understood better now, and he tried not to freak Tony out, he really did. But…

"He's just so overprotective sometimes."

"I will say that that's something that I never expected from Stark." Steve agreed. "Nevertheless, Pete… I do think you should talk to him. Tell him about these nightmares. No one has them like Tony does anyway."

That caught Peter's attention.

"Mr. Stark has nightmares?"

"Oh yeah. In fact, I know he's had plenty of you after you scared the life out of him on Titan. There's a lot Stark keeps under wraps. Just talk to him, though. He'd kill me if I went around telling people. Hell, he's basically already tried so I'm not keen on poking at that beast again."

Peter bit his lip and thought about it.

"I'm going to try and get some sleep. You should do the same. We still have a genocidal tyrant with a God-complex to catch." Cap said, running a hand through his hair tiredly. "Nearly 80 years can go by and yet some things never change."

"Hey, uh… Mr. Rogers?"

"Steve."

"Okay, Steve… Thank you. Really, I appreciate it."

"Thanks for listening to an old man ramble." Steve said kindly. He walked towards the door.

"I'll see you tomorrow, kid."

"Have a good night."

Peter watched him go, noticing how his heart rate had returned to normal from before. He did feel better and less alone- more like he belonged. Peter sighed happily and opened the fridge, grabbing a handful of grapes, and walking out.

Once in the hallway, Peter padded across the ground silently. The whole compound was dark, save for one light shining a beam onto the floor down the hallway to Peter's right. Wait… that was Tony and Pepper's room.

Curiosity got the better of him (and the fact that he still wasn't tired), so Peter made his way over to see what was keeping them up at nearly 3 A.M.

"…but I should just check on him. Real quick. Just in case."

"Tony, stop. Give yourself a rest. You know he's fine."

"Do I though?"

"He was right you know."

"What?"

"Hel-i-cop-"

"Oh, stop."

Peter heard Tony and Pepper speaking as he approached cautiously. It wasn't hard to figure out that they were talking about him.

"And Vision. I keep seeing… I don't really understand what I'm seeing, actually. Some twisted Tim Burton shit or something, just… ugh…" Tony groaned as Peter peaked through the crack of the slightly open door. Tony was on the edge of the bed, Pepper right alongside him. Peter could tell his hands were shaking in his lap even from where he stood.

Wow… Cap was proven right faster than Peter would've thought. He had never seen Mr. Stark so… vulnerable.

"Boss, Peter is at the door." F.R.I.D.A.Y's voice came over the intercom. Peter's eyes went wide and he threw up his hands in frustration. Seriously, sometimes this A.I's got on his nerves.

"Um…"

Peter gently pushed open the door after Tony and Pepper's attention turned to it. He sheepishly leaned in the doorway.

"Sorry, I saw the light on."

"You okay? Do you need anything?" Pepper asked him. She was always so hospitable to him.

"No, no. I'm okay Miss Potts. Thank you."

"Well…" Tony said, pushing himself up to grab his sweatshirt that was thrown over a chair. "Since you're up-" Tony pulled his sweatshirt on. "- and I'm up-" He slid on a pair of slides. "-and Pepper wants me to stop keeping her up-"

"I didn't say that."

"And now you don't have to, dear." Tony told her, both endearingly and with sarcasm. He kissed her on the head and she rolled her eyes but smiled.

"Anyway, let's take a walk."

Tony and Peter walked quietly through the halls of the facility. Stark led them upstairs, past Peter's room, above the medical lab floor, and finally to the roof. Peter didn't even know there was a staircase to get up there.

"Better." Tony said, taking in a stuttering breath once they were out in the fresh air. Peter was taken aback from this and even the way Stark was acting. It was very uncharacteristic of him, but only went alongside what Cap was telling Peter earlier. Mr. Stark looked freaked out.

Peter cleared his throat.

"Are- are you okay?" He asked, watching Tony pace on the edge of the building, taking deep breaths. Tony swung his gaze over to Peter and waved dismissively.

"Yeah, yeah. I'm fine." Then, "What about you? What's got you burning the midnight oil, huh? Your room okay? You know you can change the temperature next to your door. Is it Quill's snoring, God…"

"No, no." Peter laughed. "Mr. Stark, everything is great. Really. Thank you."

Tony stopped his nervous movements and crossed his arms over his chest, narrowing his eyes at Peter expectantly. Pete knew he was expecting some kind of explanation. He looked down and shuffled his feet that were still just in socks.

"Well it's- It's not that big of a deal, you know. I um…"

Peter avoided Mr. Stark's questioning gaze. Silence took over the night again and the only sounds were of the wind and the chorus of crickets in the forest around them. Peter could see the light of the nearby city in the distance. The moon reflected across the serene lake that bordered the compound. He never really realized how pretty the area was.

"Come here."

Tony sat on the edge of the roof with his legs hanging over the edge. They were right by the giant Avengers "A" that was backlit by a L.E.D. light. It cast dramatic highlights shadows over both of their faces as Peter joined him.

Tony didn't talk. He didn't question. He didn't pry. He just patiently waited, just like Cap did, actually. Peter smiled a bit. Those two were more similar than they thought.

"What's funny, Parker."

Peter wiped the smile of his face and shook his head defensively.

"Nothing."

Silent again. Then everything. Peter told him everything.

Mr. Stark listened intently, but never looked over at Peter. He didn't mind, it made it easier. He did have trouble reading Tony's expression, though. Apparently, it didn't bother Peter too much, because he just kept going… and going. Thanos, the dusting, the void, the voices, the memories out of reach, his parents, having trouble gripping onto being back in reality, not understanding what even happened to him, being constantly terrified of returning to that God-awful place…

Finally, when he was done, the air was empty again- empty, but heavy. Peter wished Tony would just say something. Eventually, he did, but it wasn't quite what he'd expect.

"Dead parents are a pain in the ass." Tony stated plainly. "That'll never change, unfortunately. Years can go by and you feel great without 'em until one single day where it feels like you're pulled back to that first day when they were gone."

It always slipped Peter's mind that Tony also lost both of his parents in the same day, just like he did.

"There will be something stupid to all of the sudden remind you. Like you have to accept a 'prestigious philanthropy' award for you dead Mom, or you rediscover you Dad's biggest scientific breakthrough, or you watch a video revealing that your best friend's best friend actually murdered your parents with a .47 and his stupid, cliché metal appendage." Tony finished bitterly. Peter froze.

"What!?"

"What, you think I hate Barnes because he ate my leftovers from the fridge or something? I have principles, kid. I'm pretty certain I'm justified on this one."

"I- I didn't… Wow… I'm sorry."

"Hey," Tony shrugged. "It doesn't change the fact that they're still dead. It is what it is. But yeah, it sucks. And I'm sorry you didn't get as long with your folks, but trust me Pete, they're fucking proud as hell wherever they are."

Peter smiled and turned his gaze down again. It was hard not to feel a lump swelling in his throat from the thought of that. He took a deep breath and sent the feeling away.

"And for the uh, the nightmares or whatever, I get you there, Pete. Trust me. It's been six years of avoiding sleep in every way I can. If I could give you any advice…"

Tony paused and Peter listened intently.

"Don't go pushing away the people who want to help. Don't have too much pride to keep it all in because that'll just drive wedges between yourself, people who care, and sanity to be honest."

Peter nodded. He had a feeling that a lot of this was personal experience talking. It was strange to think of Mr. Stark's darker personal life. Sure, he saw all the cool "billionaire" parts of his life behind Iron Man. Parties, lavish business trips, the whole shebang. Never has Tony ever shown any inkling of emotional distress though, at least not to Peter. Obviously, Pete would never wish anything like it on his mentor, but it felt relieving to know that even Tony Stark was in a similar boat- even if his was a yacht and Peter's was a canoe.

"You're handling the whole interdimensional thing much better than I did already, so you're on your way kid. It'll get better. We're also still kind of in the heat of things. Thanos is still out there…"

Tony shook his head. Peter heard his breath suddenly catch as if he just realized what he said.

"Ugh, Christ. Yeah, there's still that. Anyway, just do what you can to make yourself comfortable. Talk to people, talk to me…" he offered up, "Or not, whatever you want. I won't be offended. And also…"

Tony trailed off. He suddenly stood up so fast that it made Peter jump.

"Follow me real quick."

Peter did, and Tony led the two of them inside and down to the lab. It was dark and quiet, very unlike during the day where machines and holograms were buzzing and whirring over the sound of Tony's blasting CD's.

"Come here. Stand right there." Tony instructed. Peter stood in front of the sliding door at the finger print screen. "F.R.I.D.A.Y."

"Boss?"

"Scan Peter's fingerprints into the database and give him access to the lab."

Peter's heart fluttered at this. Tony trusted him enough to give him full, 24/7 access?

"Go ahead, Peter." F.R.I.D.A.Y gently urged. The pad lit up and Peter stepped forward, pressing his finger on the scanner. It locked in his print and finished with an affirming "ping".

"When I freak out and can't sleep, I spend hours… Well, okay, I spend full nights here, but don't do that unless you want your fiancé to bury you in the backyard." He mused. "Or, just never have a fiancé."

Peter shot a look at Tony.

"I love her, I swear." Stark defended. The door to the lab opened revealing the tables, counters, and bins just full of… stuff. Stuff Peter very badly wanted to play and tinker around with.

"Just remember what I said, okay? Not toys. But… okay some of these are basically- Well, you know what I mean. No fires, no chemical bombs, no lasers through the walls, get me? I just pieced this place back together from our last fiasco."

"Got it."

Peter cautiously made his way over to a particle separator. The lights came on as he moved inside the lab, all of the gadgets and gizmos firing up to life.

"Everything will turn off once you leave, so don't worry about that. Just try not to stay up all night. It'll still be here in the morning."

Tony started to turn to go.

"Wait, are- You're not going to stay?" Peter stopped him. Tony turned and thought it over, his face twisted into thought and hesitation.

"Well…" He finally gave in. "Alright. Just don't tell Miss Potts."

Peter promised to keep their late night- or early morning- tinkering between them.

That night, he didn't get to bed until nearly 5:30AM but he didn't care. He wasn't even tired when he did. Peter wouldn't have given up that night for anything. His "heart to heart" with Cap, his learning of Tony's similar nightmare situation, Mr. Stark's gift of the lab… Yeah, this 'being scarred by Thanos and the dark place' really sucked, but it was finally starting to feel like it would be fine, like it would get better, like there was an end in sight.

Peter pulled his covers over himself and yawned, nearly unconscious by the time his head hit the pillow. He fell into a peaceful sleep to the muffled sound of Natasha's sleep talking next door.

~ X ~

"I'm like, 74% sure." Tony answered Thor.

Him, Thor, Banner, and the kid stood in the middle of the hidden extension of the lab. A large glass-metal chamber took up a good portion of the empty floor space in front of them. This was it- they were in the final steps.

"And you think this is the right path to embark on?" Thor kept with his irritating 20 Questions game.

"I don't know, Sparky. But who the hell are we if we didn't at least try when we knew we could?"

To be honest, Tony didn't know if bringing Vision back was the "right path to embark on". It would be different, sure. Weird? Hell yeah. But they knew they had the resources to do it. If you could bring back a magical, sacrificed android-friend, wouldn't you?

"Alright. Stand back." Thor agreed. The three of them did as they were told, taking their places against the furthest wall from the God. Stark noticed Peter's poor attempt at hiding his excitement from his expression. Tony resisted the urge to roll his eyes or poke fun at his fangirling. He didn't see why the kid was always tickled pink by twinkle toes over there.

It wasn't long before the entire lab was overcome by lightning. Tony raised his hand over his face and closed his eyes to shield him from the blinding light. It didn't really do much.

When it was over, Stark cautiously lowered his arm and opened his eyes, trying to regain his vision… no pun intended.

"Holy shit…" Stark heard Banner mutter besides him. Tony blinked a few times before he could see clearly. Holy shit was right.

~ X ~

Tony made his way around the crowded living area. Everyone was there: The Guardians, Natasha, Thor, the kid, Strange, T'Challa, Phil, Pepper, etc, etc, etc... Everyone but the one person he wanted to be there, he _needed to_ be there... Wanda. He swore that kid was a black hole of angst and irritability. This time though, he didn't quite blame her. Tony didn't know how to deal with stuff like this- a girl who had just lost her... "significant android-other". In his mind though, Stark knew Vision was more than that. No one knew it like Wanda did.

"I'll be back." Tony said, kissing Pepper on the cheek before turning and squeezing through the group of people trying to start conversations with him while holding plates full of steak, vegetables, potatoes and more.

Finally, Tony made it into the main passageway, moving towards the stairs. It didn't take long to get to Wanda's door, but it did take some time to find the courage to push past it. He was surprised to find Cap and Barton already sitting on either side of her small form. Wanda's knees were pulled up to her chest and she was sporting what seemed to be three blankets (a little dramatic) and pajamas. All eyes turned to Stark when he entered.

"I heard there was a party up here. Sick vite."

Wanda rolled her eyes before Tony could even get all of his words out.

"Tony..." Cap said in a low voice, shaking his head as if to tell Stark that now wasn't ideal for his presence.

 _Rude_. Tony thought.

"I need to talk to Miss Wanda, please."

"Not feelin' it." She said bitterly. Stark looked at her in disdain.

"Please." He managed to say with mock enthusiasm.

"We'll go get some dinner." Clint said, nodded at Cap before they both left Wanda and Tony alone. Stark sat down next to Wanda who turned her face the other way.

"I know we aren't on the best of terms right now." Tony said, interlocking his fingers and resting his hands on his knees. "Which, to my credit, I feel is a little unfair, but that's beside the point."

Wanda scoffed.

"Don't you have a birthday coming up? May 18th?"

"January 3rd." She correctly flatly.

"Whoops. Well okay, then I have a month early, half-birthday present for you."

That sparked her attention.

"Would you come down with me?"

Wanda didn't move. She didn't speak.

"Hey, I understand it sucks, okay? This sucks. Thanos sucks. The fact that you had to be the one to kill your boyfriend?"

Wanda looked at Tony, unable to ignore his blunt phrasing.

"Sucks." Tony finished. He took a deep breath and softened his voice. "Just... will you please come downstairs?" He reached out his hand. Wanda just stared at it and then back up to Tony as if to say 'really?'. Tony scoffed let his hand fall to his side. He jerked his head towards the door.

"Come on, Eeyore."

"Fine. Just stop using references I don't get or care about."

Tony smirked and led Miss Maximoff down to where everyone else was gathered. The room was different than when Stark left. Instead of a mess of bustling people, mini food fights, arm wrestling competitions, and other stupid stuff, everyone was gathered around one single point in the room. They all seemed to be facing the fireplace that they often made announcements in front. Well, this looked like one hell of an announcement.

Banner was already up there, a very confused, reincarnated Vision at his side. Yeah, okay... So this was weird, but nothing concerning Vision has ever been normal.

"...we pulled from whatever data we had. Logs, video records, security here at the compound, saved J.A.R.V.I.S. files..."

"It's not perfect," Vision cut in, his voice clipping in the middle of his sentence. Tony winced. Yeah, it'd be a while before he was able to get J's voice configuration smooth and flawless again. ", but I have... fragment. Fleeting memories and-" Vision stopped when his eyes fell on Tony and Wanda. Tony looked back at her expression.

 _Yeah, it was worth it_. He thought to himself. Tony grabbed a plate and filled with food from the counter, not bothered by the invasive silence that took over the room. Stark sat down on the couch next to Peter who was engrossed in the situation playing out in front of all of them. The kid's eyes were alight, watching Wanda slowly make her way across the room to a levitating Vision who's eyes never left her for a second. Stark nudged Peter and raised his eyebrows.

"Huh? Look at that. You helped do that."

Peter smiled and shrugged, but continued to watch the two reunite.

Wanda may have had her beef with Tony, but he guessed that at the very least, this would move him up her list.


	12. Iron Man

"Enhance the perimeter!"

"Everyone suit up!"

"Someone find Phil and tell him to fire up the Zephyr!"

"F.R.I.D.A.Y, give me visuals here. Outside heat signatures, security cams, the whole deal."

So much was happening at once, and so fast. One minute the family is fawning over your superbot 2.0, and the next thing you know, a foreign ship is trying to breech the perimeter. Everyone had sprung into action, expecting the worst.

"Boss, the aircraft has successfully made landing."

"WHAT?"

There was _no way_ that aircrafts could get through without codes. Very few people had access. The only people that had them that weren't currently there at the moment were the Wakandans, but…

"T'Challa just confirmed. It's not them." Natasha called out from where she had a video chat with the Black Panther himself up on the big screen.

"Shit…" Tony muttered. Peter dropped down next to him in full suit, cocking his head to the side in his mask.

"What should we do, Mr. Stark?"

Tony tapped his reactor and let his nanotech build the suit around him.

"Blow them to hell."

It took seconds for a semicircle of the world's greatest weaponized persons to form, all gadgets, gizmos, and powers lined up and pointed at the small plane intruding on their front lawn. Tony hovered in the air, his arm outstretched towards the mystery assailant, repulsors at the ready. This ship was much too small to even hold Thanos so…

"Come on, dickweed. Show yourself!" Quill yelled from the ground below where most of the heroes were gathered defensively. Tony resisted the urge to roll his eyes. Classy.

The hatch to the craft opened with a displeasing whir and bang. No one emerged.

"Tony, I don't like this." Rhodey's voice came over Tony's coms. Stark stole a glance to his right where his friend hovered near. He was about to suggest that they go and check it out themselves when the humble sound of footsteps pulled his attention back to the ground. The entire yard of Avengers tensed and readied themselves.

If it wasn't Thanos, then it couldn't possibly be any worse… right?

"You all sure know how to deliver one hell of a welcome."

Tony actually did roll his eyes when the "mystery" person, or in this case persons, stepped out. He dropped his hand immediately.

"A little defensive, are we?" The voice questioned, knowing full well why there were precautions but choosing cocky sarcasm anyway.

"That's what happens when you leave the kids at home alone," Tony said, letting himself fall to the ground in a swift landing. His helmet retracted so that he could see the two "intruders" face to face.

"For _years_ ," Hawkeye added from somewhere behind Tony.

"But anything for those show-stopping entrances of yours, right?" Captain added, a small smirk on his face.

"Well, those _are_ my specialty."

Cap stepped past Tony and held out his hand for a shake to welcome their guest.

"It's good to see you, Nick. Miss Hill."

Nicholas Fury shook Steve's hand and Maria nodded, but they assumed a solemn disposition.

"Well… I wouldn't quite say that quite yet."

~X~

"Don't you ever bring good news or just the Doomsday Daily?" Tony asked sarcastically. He wasn't exaggerating either. After everyone moved inside for a not so happy reunion, Fury just dropped one hell of a bombshell on the room of Avengers. Nick looked over at Stark with one unamused eye.

"Dunkin' is selling donut fries again." He mused flatly.

"This _is_ good news." Sam chimed in excitedly.

"Well, great. I'm comforted to know that I can snag some sticks of donut on the way to preventing the universe's collapse." Strange said bitterly from the back.

"Donut fries are a thing?" Bucky asked in awe.

"Pal, they have a fry form for _everything_ now." Steve affirmed.

"Can we please focus on what's important?" Tasha called over the banter. And by "what's important", she wasn't kidding. Tony couldn't even keep the rush of information clear in his head.

"So, hold on…" All eyes on Tony. "Sightings of the _Red Skull_ in Berlin?" He said with disbelief. Silence was his answer. "Gold people from space in Cairo?"

"Ayesha." Drax confirmed dramatically from where the Guardians huddled.

"Kay. Loki, who is suddenly alive... again... in Norway along with yet another one of Thor's genocidal siblings?"

"Hela." He chimed in.

"Sure. Whatever. Vulture released in Queens again." Tony stole a glance at Pete who visibly gulped nervously but gave Stark a confident nod of acknowledgment. "Neo-hydrans taking arms in DC. Kaecilius in London... whatever that is. Some chic named Zenzi wreaking havoc in Wakanda. And finally, just because sense doesn't fucking matter anymore, Ultron, or some kind of scavenged version of him, destroying whatever is left of Sokovia and moving on outwards. Did I miss something, or…"

"Pedestrian sightings in Manhattan reporting a 'Giant, bald-headed, purple warrior with a weathered face smashing his way through the former Avengers Tower." Maria interrupted, looking down at her tablet and undoubtedly reading the news as it came in. She looked up at Tony. "Ring any bells?" She asked with a cocked eyebrow, knowing full well that every single person in that room knew exactly who was behind this.

Stark stretched and let himself fall onto the fireplace ledge next to Pepper who instantly intertwined their fingers together. He tiredly let his head lean into her shoulder, subtly turning and kissing the revealed skin of her collarbone as attention turn elsewhere around the room. He knew what was coming- another fight, another war, another day of hardship and loss and wondering if he'd come home to his fiancee at night. He thought he might as well get as much time in with her as he could, starting now.

"He's taking it back to where it began." Bruce realized out loud.

"Can't say he's not one for theatrics." Muttered Rocket.

"So what's his end game here? Spread us out?" Wanda chipped in from the couch where she sat next to Vis. They hadn't left each others' sides since the reunion. Gross.

"Maybe he thinks it'll make the st-o-nes more v-vulnerable." Vision's voice glitched.

"Destruction of North Potsdamer Platz. Berlin." Maria called out.

"Skull?" Bucky asked.

"You betchya."

"Well, we can't just sit around here and worry about whether we are feeding into Thanos's-"

"Wait. So we are just going do exactly what he wants? Go our separate ways spread out across the planet. Ehhh, doesn't sound good." Quill cut in, interrupting Steve.

"We can't let civilians die."

"And what about the stones?"

"We spread them out too." Bruce suddenly pitched.

"Come on..."

"No, really. We spread out all across the globe, taking a stone with us. Just until we figure out what's going on here. As long as they're far from Thanos and far from New York."

Tony sighed. As comments and arguments flew around the room. It was the end of the world all over again.

~X~

Stark rocketed over the ocean, barely noticing the colors flying by below him. He had never been to Norway. To be honest, he never really felt a need. Now was a little bit different. Stopping the literal incarnation of Hel from destroying a country was a "need" if Stark has ever seen one. Tony was supposed to be on his way to the old Avengers Tower to bargain with Thanos, but Thor called in for reinforcements in his quadrant. Tony was the only one who could easily transport from one place to another, especially with the new advancements in his suits (save for Strange and his weird circle-transport thing, but the Doctor refused to leave London). Even Thor couldn't match Tony with his swingy-flying ax thing. That made Tony feel pret-ty good.

The six stones were spread out as planned.

Cap and Barnes had the reality stone in Berlin.

Wanda and Vision had the mind stone in Sokovia (Although not attached to Vision this time. Yeah, they learned from their mistakes with _some_ help from Shuri).

Thor, Natasha, and Barton kept the space stone in Norway.

Strange and Wong with the time stone in London.

The Guardians guarded the power stone in Egypt.

And finally, T'Challa and his team possessed the soul stone in Wakanda. Notice how none of them were even in America- far, far away from Thanos was the plan.

"Holy- Point-break... hate to break it to you... are you sure _you're_ not the adopted one?" Tony challenged when he touched down. This... "Hela" stood above a crowd of people dressed very similarly to Thor. Loki was by her side, his eyes an oddly familiar, icy blue, his gaze far off as if he wasn't there with them. They both wore antler thingies on their heads... freaks. And Tony thought _his_ family had problems.

"Norway is a lot different than I imagined. Fewer goats. More demonic hell-beasts." Tony continued with the quips. Thor flew over to him, landing with a burst of lightning, making Tony jump. Always such a show-off, Tony thought, but he knew he shouldn't be one to talk.

"Leave my brother to me. Do what you wish with her."

Tony bowed sarcastically to Thor.

"As you wish, my liege."

Thor shot him a look of both irritation and slight amusement before winding up and taking off through the air again, leaving Tony to join Natasha and Barton who had already engaged with Hela. He'd admit right away- she was one badass, moose lady.

Fighting. Blasting. Shooting. Hitting. Getting hit. Hurting. You get the gist; know the drill. Hela was left crumpled with three arrows, a burning hole and one of her own antlers through her back. That ought to do it enough for at least now.

"What are you doing over there, napping?" Tony called to Thor who had both of his hands on Loki's wrists as the smaller, greener God struggled to kick his brother in the stomach. Tony could tell Thunder was definitely holding back. He always did with that little plague of a sibling of his.

"Let me help you out."

"Stark, no-"

It was too late though. Tony blasted Loki out of Thor's grasp and into a rock wall. The kid fell into a pile of limbs on the ground, barely moving.

"Damnit, Stark, listen to me! He's not the same-"

"You want me to believe that?"

"They've got him under some spell..."

"I thought _he_ was the sorcerer."

Tony argued with the god while raising his blasters towards the horned bastard once again. He didn't care how much Loki "changed". It was all bullshit. Tony would never think of him as anyone but the person who started this whole mess, even if Thor would defend him until the day he died.

"Stay down, Blitzen." Tony shouted at Loki who was trying to pull himself up, his hand to his head where his helmet had been violently knocked off. He at least seemed to have been ripped from whatever trance he was submerged under.

"Stark!" Thor boomed. In seconds, before Tony could do anything, Thor meaty hand was wrapped around Tony's suited hand... and crushed.

"Ah! Jesus Christ, screw off, Sparks."

"Does that hole in your head _ever_ stop its incessant drivel?" The weasel finally spoke up. Loki's face was twisted in pain and his hand was soaked red. Tony did quite the number on him and it made Stark feel damn good.

"Loki..." Thor immediately turned his attention back to his brother. He rushed forward and put a hand on the injured, previously deceased trickster. "How is this possible?"

"Again." Barton muttered bitterly as he and Nat approached Tony's side to watch the action.

"Are you not happy to see me, brother?" Loki mused, a weak smile on his lips. It was strange... there was nothing menacing about this grin.

"You'd at least expect that I'd start being less surprised." Thor joked, a full smile on his face now too. It disgusted Tony. Family is family he guessed...but for everyone _except_ this guy.

"I told you. I'm here."

Thor pulled his brother into a quite painful-looking, bone-crushing embrace and all three of the spectating Avengers rolled their eyes and scoffed.

"Alright, alright. If you have to stick around, then we want some answers." Hawkeye said. Thor helped Loki sit down and everyone gathered around him.

"Can I just ask- do you want to defeat Thanos or do his job for him, because if you're aiming for the ladder, you're doing a tremendous job..."

"Listen you little green and gold prick, I have _no_ problem sending one of these arrows straight up your magical ass so-"

"Barton..."

"Actually I'm with Katniss-"

"Shut up!" Loki shouted, wincing afterward and holding his head. "This is what Thanos wants. This is what he wanted, and got, from the beginning- you all split up. Are you really all too daft to see that you're only repeating history?"

"How do you know shit? You've been _dead_ -"

"That's not how it works for us gods but I wouldn't expect your limited, mortal pea-sized minds to comprehend-"

Loki was interrupted by a fast repulsor blast to the chest. Tony sent him sprawling backward into a painful slide on the ground. Thor shot Stark a dirty look and went to help his brother up.

"I can't say you didn't ask for it." Tony heard the god mutter to his brother. Loki looked irritated all the same.

"What I am trying to say is that you are all buying into his trap. Why do you think he planted us here? Before you stole the stones back, he made backup plans B through Z starting with bringing back your past fears and contenders with whatever means necessary."

"To do what?" Natasha spoke up for the first time in a while.

"To get you to split up and take the stones with you. Think about it- how did he acquire them before?"

"With all of us spread out... the stones too..." Thor was realizing out loud and Tony also started to understand in his mind.

"And he knows who will go where. He knows who will keep what stones. Why would the mighty Captain America travel to Norway to fight the goddess of hell while the skull is roaming Berlin, or why would-"

"Okay, okay. So he knows where we all are, and where we are, the stones are." Hawkeye followed.

"Yes, you're all very predictable."

"We were good enough to whoop your ass."

Loki ignored Natasha.

"How do we know we can even trust you? Last time I saw you, you were kissing the ground Thanos walked on." Stark noted. The conversation went on for a while but everything led to one final conclusion- they needed a major change in plans.

"First order should be getting the space stone out of here."

"All of the stones need to be moved for that matter."

"Stark is the one who can most easily get around."

And so, the plan was this:

Tony would get the stones out of whatever country they were currently holed up in by any means necessary. Then, as everyone was working on getting transported to New York after their hoped-for battle victories, Tony would talk to Thanos as originally planned to scope out the situation and listen to his psychotic ramblings. Once everyone arrived in New York, six of them had their respective stones that they've taken responsibility for. If they focus all of the power of the stones onto Thanos at once, the hope was a quick "Adios Thanos".

"Oh, and one other thing." The emerald God spoke up. "The stones..." He looked up to Tony specifically. "They only work collectively."

Shit... So their original plan of each Avenger wielding a stone and using them separately wouldn't work as they hoped. It was one person or no one.

"What do you mean? Strange uses the time stone alone all the time..."

"No." Loki interrupted Clint in frustration. "The full universal power of the stones in use together only works if activated by one person. Individually they work, sure. That's not going to be enough to kill Thanos though. I'm talking power... _true_ power. The-"

"...Thanos killing kind." Tony finished.

Everyone else around Tony didn't seem to comprehend what Loki was implying, but maybe it was better that way. Tony imagined a room full of wannabe martyrs, fighting over who would sacrifice themselves to the cause. It gave Stark a headache just to think about.

"I'm, uh... I'm going to check in on the others." He stumbled, still knocked out of his element by Loki's words.

"We can come. It looks like we're wrapped up here-"

"No." Tony interrupted Nat. Everyone looked at him. "I, uh... Maybe it's best if everyone heads back to New York so we can get the band back together and take the all-for-one approach. I'll round everyone up and let them know that there's been a change in plans."

"Okay, but-"

"And I'll take the space stone. Don't want you returning to New York with it while lacking back-up. Better to keep it on the move." Tony cut Barton off. All three of his teammates looked hesitant, but Thor reached into his armor and pulled out the small, blue gem. He placed in gently in Tony's iron-clad hand. Stark opened a small plate on the forearm of his suit and hid it inside.

"You have enough fuel in the quinjet to get back?" Tony asked, getting nods in return. He took a deep breath and nodded back in confirmation, turning and flipping his helmet up over his head. He glanced back once more.

"Oh, when you get back to the compound, just FYI, there are no pets allowed, Thunder." Tony said, glancing at Loki who glared back. With that, he took off.

~ X ~

Flying over to Sokovia gave Tony a good amount of time to think. When he got there, it just verified his reasoning even more.

Tony touched down to the sight of Vision and Wanda working in perfect synchronization together, taking out Ultron-baby robots exactly like the ones from years ago. He watched Wanda take out a line of about 8 of them before they could attack Vision, and Vis tore a robot in half as it went to jump on Wanda. The freaky kid-witch and his human-cyborg creation... something about the sight just filled Stark with pride, as weird as it was.

Tony felt the innate need to protect them- like it was his job to do so. It wasn't just Wanda and Vision though, but the whole team- the whole family. Call it an existential crisis or awakening or... whatever, but Stark was starting to realize a lot in the last hour.

Stark was the one who kickstarted this whole "superhero" rising when he announced his identity as Iron Man.

Stark was the one who insisted that the team always stayed together and running, funding and making sure they had everything they'd ever need.

Sure, Cap was in charge of missions and whatnot, but Tony felt responsible for the team. This all started with him...

Now it should end with him.

After all, he's lived out the whole superhero cycle for so long. He started alone. Everyone thought he was nuts. Then, he started caring about things he had never cared about before- other people- from random civilians to his friends, to Pepper, to himself. He realized that he could do good, so he did it, despite whatever anyone else said. The road was bumpy. He almost died. He pushed people away. He realized he needed them again. He was reckless. He made mistakes. He made up for them. He grew... a lot. Now, Tony wasn't sure what else there was left for him to do.

Well, there was one thing- One thing that had been haunting him for 6 years and now, he had the chance to bring it to an end. After all, Thanos had been haunting _Tony_ for all that time, no one else. Stark didn't really believe in destiny or any of that superstitious crap, but if he _did_ have a destiny, well... He felt it was this.

He was the one who was supposed to stop Thanos. He could feel it. And with the information that Loki just bestowed, well... He was alone on this one. It was up to Tony, and only Tony.

With this in mind, Stark made somewhat of a plan. He just knew he needed the stones, and he needed everyone to stay out of his way. So, as Tony flew from country to country, he established two things...

1\. He'd take the stone, convincing whoever was holding it that it was in danger.

2\. That everyone needed to get back to the compound once they were done protected their respective areas. Stark hoped that by the time they all gathered at the compound and started realizing that Tony was up to something, he'd already be in Manhattan and it'd be too late to do anything to stop him.

It didn't take Tony too long to make it nearly all the way around the world and soon, he had all six stones in his pocket. The only thing he didn't really have, was a plan from there. He figured he'd just get to Avengers Tower and wing it. With all of the power of the universe, did he really need a plan?

First, one last stop. With a pit in his stomach, Tony was realizing that he needed to start getting his affairs in order. He knew what the stones could do to someone, let alone a human. If his time was ticking to an end, he'd make time for a quick goodbye...

~ X ~

The very first thing Tony saw upon landing in Queens was a red and blue boy falling from the sky, making poor attempts at shooting web from his wrists. Something was wrong.

Stark boosted his thrusters and locked on Peter who was still hurdling towards the cement pavement from at least thirty stories up. Tony didn't know if it'd be quite fatal to the spider-kid, but he didn't want to find out.

In a couple of seconds, Tony ran into Peter mid-air, grabbing the boy around the torso and letting himself slow to a gentle levitation in the air, Peter hanging limply in his arms.

"Ugh…" Peter breathed a sigh of relief. "Th- thanks, Mr. Stark. Web shooters must be jammed or something."

Tony lowered him to the ground and let Parker stand on his own. Peter retracted his mask and took a look at the small contraptions on his wrist in puzzlement. Tony landed and flipped back his own helmet.

"Let's have a look-see, shall we?"

Stark took Peter's wrist and turned it so that he could see better.

"Ah. Yeah, you did it this time."

"Really? What- what do I do, I-"

Tony interrupted by breaking the web shooter clean off the suit.

"Wait, but-"

"Karen, hit us with a backup shooter, will ya? Right arm."

In seconds, a brand new web-shooting device built automatically around Peter's wrist. The kid just rolled his eyes.

"Of course. You're prepared for everything, right?"

"Not everything." Tony said. Nothing could prepare him for what was next. "But when it comes to saving your ass, yes. Everything." Stark added to make light of his underlying morbid comment.

"I thought you were in Norway."

"I was. And Sokovia, and Berlin, and Wakanda…"

"How is everyone?"

"Fine and dandy. Just a quick change of plans. How are you doing with your… bird-person?"

"Vulture." Peter corrected defensively. Stark smirked at how protective he was over his first big-time villain. "And pretty well, up until that end part." Peter looked up into the sky and Tony followed his gaze. The man was suspended off the side of a pretty sizeable skyscraper, entangled in so many layers of web that it'd probably take a full day to cut him loose. Stark resisted the urge to smile. Look at him- fighting neighborhood skirmishes one day and taking on full-fledged, god-complexed villains on his own the next.

Tony looked down at Peter who was still admiring his handiwork. Man, this kid was already better than Tony would ever be. He still had some growing up to do, sure, but never had Tony been so proud of someone. Being able to be a part of that, even if Stark did screw it up sometimes, well, if it was the last good thing Tony did with his life than it was the best-last thing he could've imagined.

"I'm proud of you." Tony blurted out. Peter's face turned to confusion, but he wore a smile with it. He turned his eyes back to Stark.

"Uh… Thanks."

Tony clapped a hand on Peter's shoulders and they started walking down the quiet street. No doubt that people fled when the fighting had started. The sound from a bar with a large open window towards the street caught both of their attention.

They walked into a room of people with eyes to the bar TV-screens. The news blared over the cheap establishment's speakers.

"…has people wondering, is this the Mad Titan that everyone has been hearing about and what is he waiting for? We have reports coming in from across the globe of Avengers sightings. From the ruins of Sokovia to our country's capital-"

The anchor's report was accompanied first by a far shot of Thanos sitting on Tony's old landing platform in Avengers tower. Military aircrafts surrounded the place and Tony scoffed. When will those guys learn to stick to what they know?

The images moved into different low-quality shots of things like Vision blasting a robot in Sokovia, Cap in hand to hand with the Red Skull in Berlin, or Sam soaring through the air in D.C. Tony glanced over at Peter and then back to the screen.

"Trust the team, Pete. Your team."

Tony felt the kid's eyes drilling into him. He swung his gaze over. "It's your team now, ya know? They'll take care of you and stuff. And vice versa of course."

"Yeah…" Peter said. Tony could tell he was starting to get suspicious, but Stark's mind was elsewhere. Flickers of images kept running through his mind. Mind stone. Time stone. All of those rings sitting in his pocket, all of that power. Thanos waiting for him. New York. Chitauri. Pepper. All of it being over. Iron Man being over. Tony… being over.

"Uh, Mr. Stark-"

"I've uh- I've got…" Tony lost his words. He gestured at the TV where a live feed of Thanos was displayed again. "I've got a thing."

"Let me come."

Tony chuckled and raised his eyebrows. "Right."

"Please."

"Like I said, kid, there's a plan."

"What's the harm in me coming with you if everyone is just going to end together soon anyway?"

Tony sighed. The kid was sensing that something was off, he knew. Even if Peter wasn't already as smart as he was, he had that spidey sense stuff going for him. The only thing was that Tony knew it was too late for Peter to do anything about it. No one could stop him. Tony wouldn't let anyone stop him.

"If it's anything more than one negotiator, he'll feel threatened."

"Then I'll-"

"Kid." Tony cut him off sternly and looked into Peter's eyes, holding his gaze firmly. Peter looked at him through fretting eyes but closed his mouth. "Stay here until someone picks you up."

Tony watched Peter visibly gulp but nod shakily. Stark knew he had to get out of here before Peter did decide to act on his suspicions. Tony nodded and put a hand on Peter's head, leaving it there for a moment before ruffling his hair. Peter smiled sadly and met Tony's own sad smirk.

"Stay safe." Tony said. He then turned and walked out of the bar and into the street. The sound of Peter quietly following behind was at his back, but he didn't turn. There was suddenly a lump in his throat that he didn't know if he could cover up. He just needed to get out of here. He needed to do what he knew that he had to.

"Mr. Stark-" Peter called out in a quiet voice. Tony took a stuttering breath. Please don't make this harder than it needs to be, kid. He thought to himself. Tony turned and put on his best sarcastic, egocentric, billionaire face. He raised an eyebrow to question Peter.

"When this is over, um, can you teach me how to drive stick?"

Yep, he knew. Peter knew Tony wasn't planning on coming back. This was a test to see how well Tony would react, how he would answer.

"I promised, didn't I?"

Peter nodded. "Yeah," he uttered softly. "You did."

Tony pursed his lips and curtly nodded as if to affirm it. It almost felt good to pretend as if there was a future for Tony after this… to pretend that he'd be in the front seat of one of his Audis with Peter, trying not to fall into a panic from the kid's… enthusiastic driving. How could something previously seem so small and insignificant only to now feel like an unimaginable privilege out of reach?

With that in mind, Tony rocketed off and away from Peter Parker, perhaps for the last time.

~X~

As soon as Mr. Stark took off, Peter turned and slid his mask back up.

"Karen, call Ms. Potts."

Something was wrong. Something was very wrong.

Peter wasn't sure quite what it was. It started with recognizing something strange about Mr. Stark's mannerisms and then his super-senses spiked. Tony was up to something, and whatever it was, it wasn't good.

"Peter- are you okay?"

"Fine, yeah, I'm fine. I just-"

How did he even explain something that he didn't even know what to call?

"Peter? Is it Tony?"

Peter sighed and looked at the sky, eyebrows drawn together.

"Yes."

~X~

Tony felt his heart tighten when the old Avengers Tower appeared in the distance. He remembered when there was a time where he couldn't even look at the building without his body shutting down into full-fledged panic. Since then, he got control over his alien-related anxieties and the tower became just a tower.

And now, it felt like he took twenty steps backward. The fact that Thanos was waiting for him up there, just like Loki had when this all started, sent shockwaves of fear through his chest. He had been dreading this day for so long but somehow, he never fully accepted that it would arrive.

Tony was getting close to finishing his flight path to the landing pad 120 floors up, but before he could get too high, he saw a wisp of a very familiar red on the streets. Tony stopped midair and hovered to make sure he was seeing right. What the…

Tony dropped to the ground and retracted his helmet to come face to face with his waiting fiancée.

"Honey, you can't be here. Why aren't you at the compound?"

"I got a ride."

"Wh-" Tony didn't even know what to say. All he knew was that he didn't even like the idea of Pepper being as close as the compound upstate, let alone ten feet from the base of the tower. "Pepper, please-"

"Peter's worried about you. So am I."

Tony sighed. He knew he shouldn't have stopped in Queens to say goodbye. Him and his damn weakness for that kid…

"Come here." Tony muttered discreetly, grabbing Pepper's arm and pulling her into the lobby of the tower. It seemed counterintuitive, but Stark felt confident that it was better than simply standing on the open street.

"I'm fine. I don't know what the kid is going on about, really. Are we sure _he's_ okay?"

Pepper sighed and let her shoulder sag. She looked at him disappointedly.

"You were always so good at lying. Don't spin this, Tony." Pepper said tiredly. Stark watched with apologetic eyes as she stared back with her worried ones. "What are you doing?"

Tony watched her for a while longer, fighting with himself to try and figure out how he wanted to approach this. He was sure of two things so far. One, just the sight of her sent painful spikes through his heart. Two, if she knew what he was planning, Pepper was going to try everything in her power to prevent Tony from taking on Thanos alone.

But those eyes… He couldn't lie to those eyes.

Tony took a deep breath and turned his eyes downwards as he reached out to take both of her hands in his. She didn't seem to like what she was hearing already.

"The stones don't work singularly as they do collectively. Not nearly as effective, because, well, that's the point."

"Which is why you're each using a stone simultaneously to-"

"No, no… It's…" Tony interrupted and held her hands a little tighter. He guiltily looked up at her confused expression. He tried to take in every detail of her face, her hair, her gaze…

"It has to be one person." He said quietly. Pepper's face morphed into anger in the blink of an eye. If he had a dollar for every time he saw that exact transformation, he'd… well, he'd be a richer billionaire.

"And what, you think that person's you?" She accused, pulling her hands out of his grasp.

"Pep-"

"You don't get to just go ahead and make whatever irrational decision that pops into your head at the moment. You have friends, Tony… a team. You have me."

"I-"

"You have a kid on the way, for God's sake."

" _If_ that's-"

"No! Not if." She interrupted before he could get more than a couple of words out. Tony was taken aback. It took a minute to find words.

"'Not if'? Since when was it 'not if'?"

"Since yesterday when Nat and I went out and bought a test."

Tony took a stuttering breath. As terrible as it sounded, this is why he knew he couldn't have a proper goodbye with Pepper if he could help it. Almost every fiber of his subconscious urged him to drop his plan, to hold his fiancée, to stay safe not for him, but for his kid… their kid. And God he wanted to be a Dad, he really did. Not until the last few years once he met Harvey and then Peter, but ever since then, he had been sure.

Tony didn't know how to respond so instead, he leaned forward and gently kissed Pepper, needing to feel her one last time. She seemed surprised at first and went along with it for a while until her body went rigid and she pushed him back.

"Don't do that." She said with tears in her eyes.

"Kiss you?"

Tears slipped down her face and she looked at him like he was hurting her with the worst pain imaginable.

"Say goodbye." She barely choked out. Tony turned his eyes away so he wouldn't have to see her like this.

"Pepper," He searched for words to say- something to try to make her understand, but nothing came. "I have to go."

"Why you? There's a god on your team. A super soldier, a- an all-purpose android thing… You're just a human, Tony."

"Thanks for that boost of confidence."

Pepper's eyes glazed over and she hurriedly turned away from him, walking away and running her hands over her face, wiping secret tears from her face. Tony watched, unable to make his feet move. He wasn't sure where'd they take him if they did- to her or out that door when she wasn't looking. Neither seemed to be an easier choice than the other.

Stark continued to watch her take a moment with her back turn. She pushed her hair out of her face and then after a shuddering breath, Pepper placed her hand gently over her stomach. Tony's heart dropped.

They had made it so far. He remembered back to her first day as his assistant, too polite to dispute the stupid things he did. It took that one day, maybe less, before she started calling him out on his bullshit. It was then when he realized he found someone really special, as bossy as she got. There was no doubt that she saved him in more ways than one. To think of where he'd be without Pepper... probably dead somewhere from alcohol poisoning surrounded by a dozen or so girls that may as well have been dubbed strippers. Either that or dead in a cave in the Middle East. Stark would always tell her how she was the only reason he kept going all those years back... She was the reason he had the motivation to create Iron Man. She was the reason he started caring about not only other people but himself too.

Wow.

She was everything.

And now, here they were. After years of work and patience and back-and-forth, he had everything he could ever want- Engaged to the most amazing woman and now with a kid on the way... Tony was so close. He was _so_ close to a life that he always thought he'd never have, and it was being torn away from him. He couldn't believe he was letting her down again.

Tony stepped forward and slid his hands up her arms. Pepper's breath caught in her throat and her knees buckled. Tony hurried to wrap his arms around her from behind to keep her from falling as her body was wracked with sobs. Stark held her tightly, burying his face in Pepper's neck and trying to keep her scent in his mind to take with him forever.

Tony let her turn and wrap her arms around him in return. She was shaking pretty badly now. He hated that he did this.

"You've stuck by me all these years, and I- I don't even know how to- how to-"

It went quite save from Pepper's occasional sniffling. Tony looked up at the ceiling and blinked back his own tears. He didn't know where he was going or what would happen after this, but knowing that Pepper wouldn't be there... God, he's never been without her. He couldn't go on without her, in life or after, it didn't matter. The only thing that fueled him was his need to protect her so that even if he didn't make it out of this, she would, and she could go on.

"I love you, Miss Potts." He whispered. Usually, she'd come back at him with a 'Mr. Stark', but she kept her vow of silence. Tony sighed. He had to go now.

Reaching for her wrists, he held them gently and slowly guided Pep back a few steps towards the wall. He ran his fingertips along her arms one last time, delicately ending with a grip on her wrists as he moved them back towards the wall. She pulled back and looked confused until she glanced down and realized what he had done. Titanium encased her wrists and an electromagnetic force held them to the surface of the wall. Pepper's face hardened and she tried to yank herself out of the restraints Tony made with his nano-bots.

"Tony, I swear-"

Tony stole a quick kiss while she was distracted and stepped back before she could knee him. He felt awful for literally tying his fiancee up, but she wasn't going to let him leave, he knew it.

"Tony!" She yelled at him. "Don't you dare." But she was losing that authoritative edge. He gave her a sad smile.

"Sorry, Pep."

He started to back away and she tried to pull herself out of the wrist-locks.

"Tony! Tony, don't-" She pleaded him, tears rolling down her face. Stark tried to breathe through the pain in his chest as he gazed at her through his own tear-glazed eyes for one last time.

Fuck, this hurt.

Tony turned and left to the sound of her screaming for him to come back, to not do it, to not leave her.

Tony walked out of Avengers Tower and let Pepper down one last time.

* * *

 **Sorry for the intense writer's block. One more chapter after this, I think! I'm starting to write some Tony and Peter one-shots too, so go to my profile and take a look!**


	13. Apologies

So first of all, Endgame SPOILERS below...

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I have no words. I was afraid of this happening which is why I couldn't face the end of this fic and I'm so sorry about that!

Some of you may understand and some of you may not... but after ten years of Tony being front and center in my life and writing AS him and exploring his character so deeply, he definitely became part of me. He's saved me from myself in my darkest times and I'm not quite sure how to move on from the loss of something like that.

I don't know how I'll feel in a week or two weeks, but it's possible that I may finish this fic and it's possible it may be too painful.

I'd DEFINITELY like to write a fic where Tony is actually alive but faked his death to preserve his quiet life with his family and how he reveals this to Peter and yada, yada... Again, I just can't do it yet.

I hope I can come back to this fic and write how I wanted the movie to end. You guys have been so kind and supportive of my writing.

If anyone would like to talk, I'm here. I'd appreciate being able to converse with others who understand because I know all my friends and family think I'm a freak for letting this damage me so much.

Thanks, everyone 3


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